SEO Glossary: Heatmap

What is a heat map?

Looking at a heat map immediately brings to mind a thermal imaging camera. Coloured fields in a yellow-red hue represent a visualization of data. Such data is collected and processed by software and then displayed visually.

 

The aim is to use a heat map to display user behavior on a website. Where does a user spend a lot of time? Which areas appear to be particularly attractive and which are less interesting? The heat map provides information about this.

 

Different colors and dots indicate which points and areas of a website receive the most attention and which receive less. These are sometimes more and sometimes less accumulated. Software measures and records where website visitors move their computer mouse most frequently and how the clicks turn out.

 

This is also known as heat mapping. This can be used, for example, to determine how useful the design of a website is and how well a navigation menu is received. Once the initial results are available, optimizations can be made if necessary

 

 

How is a heat map structured?

As with a thermal imaging camera, the different colors of a heat map are assigned like temperatures.

 

Different shades are used for this. The classics are

 

• Red: Stands for very hot
• Orange: Stands for medium hot
• Yellow: Stands for warm
• Green: Stands for cool
• Blue: Stands for cold

In addition, individual transitions can be seen between the different colors. They represent the gradations.

 

Example:

 

If individual areas on a website are red and orange, users with the computer mouse linger here particularly often. Green or blue regions, on the other hand, are less interesting. This makes it possible to recognize patterns of movement.

Where are heat maps used in online marketing?

Heatmaps are used alongside the classic EYE-TRACKING for software products also in online marketing use. This makes it possible to analyze user behaviour and the structure of websites. If results are available, corresponding improvements can be made. These are then part of OnPage SEO.

 

Which areas of a website immediately catch the eye and which less so? Here, for example, there is the possibility of populating interesting areas with relevant content. Among other things, this can lead to an increase in the CTR (click-through rate) increases.

 

Heatmaps are also extremely useful in terms of usability. In addition, web designers benefit from heatmaps to optimize the design of layouts and make changes if necessary.