When you first look at a heatmap, it might feel a little overwhelming. You’re staring at a page you already know, but now it’s lit up in hot spots and faded areas, like it’s trying to tell you something in another language.
Learning how to interpret click, scroll and mouse move visuals is a muscle that requires training just like any other type of analysis. In this post, I’ll walk through 12 common patterns you’ll may see in your heatmaps—patterns that can show where visitors are getting stuck, distracted or deciding to take action.
12 Common Heatmap Patterns To Look For
1. Spot-Specific Clicks
You’ll see one element (like a button, image or link) getting almost all the attention. It’s red hot. Everything around it is barely touched.
What this tells you: Either this element is doing its job really well—or it’s a distraction. When one element draws a huge share of clicks, it can indicate strong intent or misdirected attention, depending on what the element is and what you expected users to do.
What to try:
If it’s not meant to be clicked, adjust the styling—remove hover states, underline, or color cues that suggest interactivity.
If it's a secondary element getting outsized attention (e.g. a product image instead of the CTA), test swapping its position with the CTA to refocus intent.
Use A/B testing to try versions with reduced visual weight (size, color, proximity) on the high-click element and measure resulting click distribution.
2. Gapped List
On a menu or a list of links, you see clicks on most items—except one that’s totally cold.
What this tells you: Something about that item is turning people away. It might be unclear, irrelevant or poorly placed—or users may simply not recognize its value or purpose.
What to try:
Rewrite the cold link using more specific, benefit-driven or familiar language. Use wording that matches what users would search for or expect.
Reorder the list—move the underperforming item to the top or bottom to see if visibility is the issue.
Add icons, badges (e.g. “new” or “popular”), or supporting descriptions next to cold items to increase clarity and perceived value.
3. First and Last Click Bias
Map to use: Click map
Menus and grouped links tend to show high activity at the top and bottom—but less in the middle.
What this tells you: People pay most attention to the first and last items they see. It’s a common behavior in scanning—endpoints feel more noticeable or important.
What to try:
Move your highest-priority links or categories into the top or bottom position of menus or lists where they’re more likely to be seen.
Add duplicate links to key items in both top and bottom positions to increase exposure without relying on memory.
Use anchor links or sticky nav to reduce over-reliance on middle links that often get missed.
4. Filter Favorites
Some filters—like price or size—get used constantly. Others barely get a click.
What this tells you: Visitors know what matters to them and use filters to get there faster. Filters that go unused may be too vague, too hidden or just not helpful.
What to try:
Place the most-used filters at the top of your filter section and keep them expanded by default.
Collapse or group rarely used filters under a “More” section to declutter the experience.
Rename vague filters like “Style” to more specific alternatives like “Occasion” or “Fit Type” based on session recordings or voice-of-customer research.
5. Even Spread Browsing
On a grid or product listing, clicks are fairly evenly distributed.
What this tells you: Visitors are open to exploring and feel comfortable navigating your content. It usually means the layout is balanced and multiple items are appealing enough to investigate.
What to try:
Add trust-building elements like “staff pick,” “customer favorite,” or “best value” tags to nudge visitors toward action.
Introduce sorting options like “Most Popular” or “Top Rated” to help guide decision-making without eliminating variety.
Enable quick view or hover preview features to help browsers make faster comparisons without extra page loads.
6. Spotlight Clicks
One or two items in a grid get nearly all the attention. Everything else is cold.
What this tells you: A few elements are standing out strongly—maybe because of their images, placement or names. But that might also mean the rest of the content is too weak or repetitive to earn attention.
What to try:
Identify what makes the spotlighted items different—try replicating those cues (image type, title, layout) across other listings.
Test swapping underperforming items into the spotlight position to check if it’s a content issue or a placement issue.
Reduce visual clutter around standout items so the rest of the grid doesn’t feel ignored by comparison.
7. Pagination Emphasis
Click maps show users frequently hitting “Next” or page numbers on a multi-page listing.
What this tells you: The first page isn’t meeting expectations. Either the results feel irrelevant, or users are in deep-browse mode and prefer to see more options and the page button is their only option. They may also be missing helpful filtering or search options that would prevent the need to go through several pages of products.
What to try:
Optimize the first page’s default sort order to show the most purchased or highest rated items first.
Add more visible filtering options or “jump to” sections so people don’t have to flip through multiple pages.
Try infinite scroll with clear separators (“Showing results 1–20”) or a “Load More” button to reduce friction from pagination.
8. Missing Link Content
You see a tight cluster of repeated clicks in one place—usually fast, often stacked on top of each other.
What this tells you: People are frustrated. They’re trying to click something that’s either broken or not behaving the way they expect.
What to try:
Add a visible loading state, hover tooltip, or other affordance to clarify what’s happening if the element is slow to load or dynamically updated.
If people are clicking on a static image or text that looks interactive, re-style it to look more like a label or section header.
Add contextual cues like “not clickable” icons or dimmed text to set better expectations.
9. Hover Between Buttons
The cursor hovers between two nearby buttons without settling on either.
What this tells you: People are hesitating. The options aren’t clearly different, or the layout is creating indecision. There isn't a clear priority between CTAs or attention is truly evenly splitting.
What to try:
Combine the two CTAs into a single button or a dropdown selector if the user doesn’t need both at once.
Add microcopy under each button (e.g., “Get demo in 5 min” vs. “See pricing tiers”) to reduce friction and clarify outcomes.
Use visual hierarchy—make the most common or recommended action larger or a more contrasting color.
10. F-Shape Reading
You see a horizontal sweep across the top, a shorter one beneath it, then a vertical drop down the left side.
What this tells you: This is how most people scan. They read the first few lines, skim the middle and then scroll fast.
What to try:
Use short, descriptive subheadings followed by bolded first sentences to make skimming more informative.
Place key product or conversion info (like price, reviews, or value props) in the top-left and upper-middle areas of the content layout.
Trim fluff from the top of the page—visitors spend the most time there, so lead with content that helps them act.
11. Header-Only Scanning
Mouse movement concentrates around headings or section titles.
What this tells you: Visitors are scanning to find the section that matters to them. The body text isn’t catching their interest—yet.
What to try:
Rewrite headers to be benefit- or question-oriented (e.g. “Why Our Pricing Works” vs. “Pricing”) to better match intent.
Use one-line blurbs or teaser text beneath headers to draw people into the body content.
Reorder your page so the most clicked headers appear earlier, and downplay sections that receive no hover movement.
12. Deep Reading
You see a consistent hover pattern that follows full lines of text from left to right.
What this tells you: People are fully engaged. They’re reading carefully.
What to try:
Place a contextual CTA or internal link within the content flow (e.g., “Try it now” or “Read the full guide”) to leverage attention.
Break longer paragraphs with relevant visuals or bolded takeaways so you can keep engagement without overwhelming the reader.
Add a sticky or delayed CTA that appears as users near the end of the engaged section.
The big idea to remember
Heatmaps don’t give you answers—they give you clues. They show you where people look, where they stop, where they click and where they leave. These 15 patterns are common, but how they show up on your site is always a little different.
Start small. Look at one page. Pick one pattern. Then make a change, run a test or just try to understand why it’s happening.
