Heatmaps are an essential tool to help marketers understand how users interact with a website. Heatmaps have been the main focus of the digital marketing scene for some time now.
So, what is a heatmap?
Heatmaps are data visualisation tools designed to help website owners understand how well a specific page performs. The idea is to make it easy for users to visualize complex data sets by representing color values. Heatmaps measure user behavior on a scale from red to blue, with the warmest color indicating the highest level of commitment and the coolest indicating the areas with the lowest level of commitment.
Now, it’s also worth noting that there are a few different types of thermal maps that can be used to measure webpage activity. Here is a brief overview of some of the more common examples:
- Scroll Maps: Track how far your readers have gone down the page before they drop off. The redder the area, the more people are reading it.
- Click Maps: Track where users click most of the time. These could be internal links, navigation bars, logos, images, CTA buttons, and anything that appears to be clickable.
- Hover Maps: Track where users are moving the cursor around the page. Hot spots are indicated by where users are most likely to pause.
Now that we covered some simple heatmap info, let’s move on to some ways you could use heatmaps to take your SEO strategy to next level.
Here are nine tips on how to use heatmaps to boost SEO.
1. Learn More About User Intent
Visual Analytics offers a unique opportunity to learn more about the behavior of the audience. Another thing you can do with heatmaps is to figure out which parts of the page you can play the most. What content do people care about, and which sections do they scroll through without stopping? At what point do the users drop off?
In addition, you might try looking at which menu options and filters get the most play – which can tell you which topics your audience cares about the most. These data can then be used to inform your PPC campaigns, as well as future landing pages and blog posts.
Compare heatmap data to paid search data to uncover keyword opportunities that you can use to inform your content strategy, ad copy, social posts, and so on. It might also be worth checking Google Analytics for bounce rates and residence times.
Here, your goal is to find out how many people are going to visit the page, then leave because something is missing or the content is not relevant.
2. Optimise Page Layout
In many cases, page structure is something we’re trying to navigate by applying our best judgment.
Sure, the importance of things like H2s, H3s, and white space has been drilled into our minds.
There are, however, literally hundreds of factors that contribute to great user experience.
The most common way to use heatmaps is to gain an understanding of how customers interact with on-page elements such as CTA buttons, where friction exists, and how visitors move across the site. For example, on this side-by-side, the image on the left showed that visitors spent more time looking at the promotional banner that advertised the rewards program than completing the checkout.
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You may also be able to use heat maps to optimise image placement to increase conversions.
3. Use Heatmaps to Uncover ‘Why’
Analytics platforms such as Google Analytics allow you to collect tonnes of quantitative data. You can track page views, referral traffic, bounces, and how many times someone decided to leave a cart.
The problem is, those insights don’t offer much of the “why” consumers are taking those actions.
For example, if your heatmap reveals that a tonne of people click a certain button but don’t convert it, head over to your GA account to sort things out.
Navigate to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages, then click Destination URL. From there, you might want to use a heatmap to understand how users interact with the destination page. For example, you notice that most clicks are done at the bottom of the page.
In this case, this could indicate that the information people are looking for is way too far below the fold.
From there, you might try to move that content further up the page and test to see if the change had any impact on the conversions.
4. Combine Heatmaps with Surveys
Heatmaps allow you to identify points of friction, design issues, and other opportunities that your audience may not have raised in a survey or review.
Collecting feedback from multiple sources gives you a clearer picture of the relationship between users and your website.
Try using heat maps to uncover design issues on specific pages, and then use on-site surveys to ask visitors to share their feedback on that page.
- What could they add or change?
- How has their experience been?
Keep in mind that you want to make sure that you approach this strategy one issue at a time, otherwise it will be too difficult to analyse your data and implement the recommended changes.
5. Determine Optimal Content Length
Google has long insisted, however, that word count does not match quality content. You want to focus on giving users the answers they want, not just taking up more space. How well does each page match the search queries of your audience?
You can use heatmaps to find out how much information your customers want on any given topic. Use the scroll map to find out where users are leaving the page. Have you answered the question above, and there’s no need for readers to keep scrolling on? Or, are readers scanning for information and then dropping off after realising that you’re not going to provide the information they’ve been hoping for?
While the heatmap itself isn’t going to give you the full answer, you should start by finding out where people are going, and then look at what they’re going to do next.
- Do they leave your site for good or do they find what they need and move on to the purchase phase?
- What are your competitors going to cover on similar pages?
- What can you do to make something better?
6. Improve Your Internal Linking Strategy
Internal links are essential to help the Googlebot understand the structure of your website. From Google’s point of view, the anchor text you use to link to different parts of your website provides a more context for what that target page is all about.
In addition, internal links allow for the distribution of link equity between pages and the establishment of a content hierarchy where the most important pages have the highest value. For organizations that haven’t given much thought to internal links, making an effort to improve links between pages can be a quick way to boost your rankings.
In order for content-based marketers to expand their site, internal links provide an opportunity to strengthen authority on key issues, by grouping content into “cornerstone” or “pillar” pages and subtopics.
So, how can heat maps help with that?
The advantage of using heat maps to measure internal link performance is that they provide specific information about where users click. Users can take advantage of these insights to optimise link placement, driving more traffic to related pages.
7. Structure Your Site Around the Buying Process
Your website should be set up in a way that guides users to the relevant content that matches their stage of the customer journey. This means that you will need to make sure that all of your links work together to nurture your visitors and provide them with valuable insights so that they stay with you from awareness to purchase and beyond.
To ensure that people click on the “right” content, click maps to find out which links users click. Clicking links will take users away from the page they are currently reading, so you’ll want to find out if the links in your articles are relevant. If they are irrelevant – or if you jump to a completely different place on the buyer’s journey, you risk driving those users away from your website.
As you evaluate each page, see what happens when the user clicks an internal link. To determine relevance, ask yourself the following questions:
- How much time are they spending on the new page?
- How far are they going to scroll?
- Do they continue to explore your content?
- Does the session ended with an action taken by the user?
8. Identify Confusing Elements?
Another advantage of using heatmaps is that they provide website owners with specific information on which elements they find confusing. Have you ever visited a website where it looked clickable but didn’t help you get to the next page?
It’s annoying, isn’t it?
Well, your customers are feeling the same way. Items that appear to be “clickable” may not seem to be that big of a deal, but they indicate that the structure of a page does not meet expectations.
Clickmaps can help you find the areas where customers expect to find links, allowing you to go back and add them to meet the expectations of your audience. In addition to unclickable items, heatmaps can help you identify other signs that users “don’t get it.” Think of hovering in strange places for a long time, or a high number of drop-offs on a page.
Make a list of all the weak spots you encounter on each page, and as you improve each area, see if the bounce rates and conversions are improving.
At the end of the day, you want to make sure you look out for any issues that prevent your audience from converting – whether it’s a poor checkout experience, images that look like buttons, or a convoluted copy.
9. Improve Your Outbound Linking
It may seem counter-intuitive, but including outbound links within your content is good for SEO. While some site owners are concerned that following this piece of advice will drive users away, the fact is that referencing reputable sources shows readers (and search engines) that you are interested in providing useful information – regardless of where it comes from.
Links that you include in your web copy may play a key role in how your audience perceives your content, according to Stanford University research. Link to spammy sites and your credibility is going out of the window. So, where are the heat maps coming into play? Actually, there are a few different ways.
First, you might try using a click map to uncover which links you get the most clicks. This will help you figure out which links your audience is most interested in – which websites/institutions do they see as most credible/interesting?
Second, you could also use a scroll map to analyse your content. For example, you might find that readers drop off after encountering an outbound link that they perceive as spamming or irrelevant. If that’s the case, link a better source, then see if things get better. If not, then it’s worth looking at how you can make the rest of the piece more attractive.
To wrap up, understanding how your visitors interact with the content, structure, and on-page elements of your site allows you to build a strategy that allows users to stick around, read a blog, and ultimately convert more often.
Heatmaps are the ideal starting point for marketers to identify major picture problems that cause friction and new opportunities to drive traffic and conversions.
That said, you’re not supposed to rely solely on heatmaps for research. They are one of the many tools that come together to shape your understanding of the buyer’s experience.