How to Setup WordPress Heatmaps (3 Simple Ways) Free + Premium

If you’re struggling to understand what’s helping (or hurting) your website’s performance, WordPress heatmaps can reveal exactly how people interact with your pages — from the elements they click to how far they scroll.

Over time, I’ve tested multiple heatmapping solutions. Today, I’ll Walk you through 3 simple and effective methods to set up heatmaps in WordPress:

• Microsoft Clarity (free)
• UserFeedback by MonsterInsights (premium)
• Aurora Heatmap (free/premium)

This guide will walk you through both options so you can start making smart, data-informed decisions to improve your site experience.

What Are Heatmaps & Why Should You Use Them?

Heatmaps are visual tools that display user interaction behavior through color patterns, helping you understand which parts of a page get the most attention.

Here’s how it works:

• 🔴🟠🟡 Warm colors (red, orange, yellow): Indicate high interaction —Areas where lots of clicks, taps, or time spent.
• 🔵🟢 Cool colors (green, blue): Represent low interaction or neglected areas of the page.

What You Can Learn from Heatmaps

Heatmaps help answer important usability questions like:

• Are your call-to-action (CTA) buttons getting clicks?
• Do visitors scroll far enough to view key content?
• Are users engaging with inactive or non-clickable elements?

With these insights, you can:

• Reposition content for better visibility
• Simplify page layouts for smoother navigation
• Boost engagement and conversions through strategic design changes

Top 3 Ways to Add Heatmaps to WordPress

Here are two trusted tools you can use to implement heatmaps easily — no coding required.

📌 How to Set Up Microsoft Clarity Heatmaps in WordPress (Step-by-Step)

Microsoft Clarity is a free, beginner-friendly tool that helps you visualize how visitors interact with your website using heatmaps and session recordings. It’s an ideal solution for bloggers, freelancers, and small business owners looking to improve user experience without spending a dime.

We personally rely on Clarity across several partner websites to analyze user behavior and refine design choices.

📌 Privacy Tip: Clarity automatically anonymizes user data and aligns with GDPR and other global privacy laws. For details, check out our WordPress GDPR compliance guide.

Step 1: Create Your Free Microsoft Clarity Account

To get started, head over to clarity.microsoft.com and click “Get Started.”

When prompted, you can sign in using your Microsoft, Google, or Facebook account. For this tutorial, we’ll choose Google.

After signing in:

• Confirm your email address.
• Accept the Terms of Use and check the confirmation box.

On the next screen, create a new project by entering:

• A project name (e.g., My WordPress Site)
• Your website URL
• Your industry from the dropdown

Click “Add new project” to complete this step.

Step 2: Install Microsoft Clarity on WordPress

Next, you’ll connect your WordPress site to Clarity using the official plugin.

Here’s how:

1. In your WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins » Add New.
2. In the search bar, type “Microsoft Clarity.”
3. Click Install Now, then hit Activate once the button changes.

After activation:

• Head to the Clarity section in your WordPress dashboard.
• Use the dropdown to select the project you just created.
• You’ll see a confirmation message: “Project integrated successfully.”

💡 Note: If you’re using a caching plugin, be sure to clear your cache so Microsoft Clarity can verify and track your site properly.

Step 3: Start Tracking Heatmaps in Clarity

Once connected, Clarity will automatically begin logging visitor behavior — no need to paste scripts or touch your theme files.

Inside the Clarity Dashboard, you’ll find useful analytics like:

• Sessions – Total number of visits
• Pages per Session – Average number of pages viewed per visit
• Scroll Depth – How far visitors scroll on each page
• Active Time – How long users actively engage (not idle tabs)

You’ll also see behavioral alerts like:

• Rage clicks – Repeated frustrated clicks
• Excessive scrolling – Users scanning too much, possibly lost or looking for something

Viewing Your WordPress Heatmaps

To access heatmaps:

1. Go to the “Heatmaps” tab in your Clarity dashboard.
2. You’ll see a list of pages with available heatmaps.
3. Click any page to explore three key views:

🔘 Click Map

Shows where users click most often.

🔘 Scroll Map

Reveals how far down users scroll — great for checking if visitors see your CTAs or key content.

🔘 Attention Map

Displays how much time users spend on each part of the page.
Red = high focus, blue = low focus.

📌 How to Add Heatmaps in WordPress Using UserFeedback (Full Guide)

If you’re looking for a heatmap solution that also offers targeted surveys and detailed visitor feedback, UserFeedback by MonsterInsights is an excellent choice.

This tool is ideal for growing websites, eCommerce stores, and digital agencies that want more control over user insights and engagement.

Step 1: Sign Up for UserFeedback and Install the Plugin

To get started:

Visit the UserFeedback official site and sign up for a plan.

Note: The heatmaps feature is only available on the Elite plan. There's a free version, but it won’t include heatmap tracking.

After signing up:

• Download the UserFeedback plugin ZIP file from your account dashboard.
• Copy your license key — you’ll need this later.

Now go to your WordPress dashboard:

• Navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin or Search User Feedback
• Upload the ZIP file, click Install Now, and then Activate.

Next, activate your license:

• Go to UserFeedback → Settings
• Paste your license key and click Verify

You’ll see a success message when the license is validated.

Step 2: Enable the Heatmaps Addon

Once the core plugin is activated:

1. Head to UserFeedback → Addons
2. Scroll to find the Heatmaps addon
3. Click Install Addon, then hit Activate

This enables the feature so you can start tracking user interactions visually.

Step 3: Create Your First Heatmap

Now that Heatmaps is active:

1. Go to UserFeedback → Heatmaps
2. Click the New Heatmap button
3. Use the dropdown to select a page you want to analyze (e.g., homepage, landing page, blog post)
4. Hit Create button to set up the heatmap.

🎯 Tip: Start with your most visited or highest-converting pages to get meaningful insights quickly.

Step 4: View and Analyze Heatmap Data

Once live, UserFeedback will begin tracking user actions right away. You can view your results by:

• Navigating to UserFeedback → Heatmaps
• Clicking on any active heatmap

You’ll get detailed reports showing:

• Device Filtering – Compare behavior across desktop, tablet, and mobile
• Click Tracking – Identify high-activity areas on your page
• Mouse Movement – See how users move and interact with your content
• Campaign Filters – View interactions by UTM source, medium, or campaign

This data helps you fine-tune every part of your design and funnel.

📌 How Use Aurora Heatmap in WordPress

If you're looking for a free and easy-to-use heatmap tool for WordPress, the Aurora Heatmap plugin is a solid choice. It tracks where your users click — helping you optimize layouts, CTAs, menus, and more based on real interaction data.

Step 1: Install and Activate the Aurora Heatmap Plugin

To get started:

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. From the left-hand menu, go to Plugins → Add New.
3. In the search bar, type “Aurora Heatmap.”
4. Find the plugin in the results and click Install Now.
5. Once installed, click Activate.

🎉 The plugin is now live and will immediately begin collecting user interaction data.

Note: The plugin does not track admin user activity, so to test the heatmaps, make sure you log out or view the site in a private/incognito window.

Step 2: Configure the Plugin Settings

⚙️ To access the plugin:

Go to Settings → Aurora Heatmap from your WordPress admin menu.

Click the “Settings” Tab

Here, you’ll see two main configuration areas: Data Settings and Display Settings.

Data Settings

• Accuracy:
  Set this to Standard for low-traffic sites, or leave it at High accuracy if you have decent traffic volume.
• Non-singular pages:
  Enable this if you want heatmaps for archive pages (like category, tag, or search results). Otherwise, only single posts and pages will be tracked.
• AJAX delay time:
  This delay (in milliseconds) helps the plugin wait until the page is fully loaded before recording clicks. You can leave the default unless you experience script conflicts.

Display Settings

• Number of Drawing Points:
  Controls how much click data is visualized. If things look cluttered, try reducing it — but in most cases, you want as much data as possible.
• Count Bar:
  This handy bar on the heatmap shows how many clicks each part of the screen received. Keep this set to “Show.”
• URL Hash Setting:
  Choose how to handle anchor links (#example). If set to individual, each hash variation is treated as a separate page. Integrated combines them. Choose based on how your site uses internal links.

👉 Don’t forget to click “Save” if you change any settings.

Step 3: View Aurora Heatmaps in Action

After your site gets some visitor traffic:

1. Go to Settings → Aurora Heatmap.
2. Click the Heatmap List tab.

You’ll see a list of tracked URLs. Once enough clicks are gathered:

• Click the number to the right of any URL to open its heatmap 🔥.
• A new window will display the click map, showing click intensity as color blobs (red = most clicked).
• You’ll also see mobile vs. desktop data.

🤔 What Are Phantom Clicks?

When reviewing your heatmaps, you might notice clicks in unexpected or empty areas. These are known as phantom clicks. Common causes:

• Accidental taps or misclicks (especially on mobile)
• Visual elements that look clickable but aren’t
• Users trying to interact with a small image expecting a larger view

🔧 Use this insight to fix user experience issues:

• Make images clickable if users frequently try to enlarge them
• Turn misleading elements into real links or adjust the design

🔥 Bonus: Turn Heatmap Data into Results

Fix Drop-Off Points with Scroll Maps

If users aren’t scrolling far enough to see your content or CTA, try:

• Moving important sections higher on the page
• Splitting content into smaller sections
• Testing different headlines or content breaks

Solve User Confusion

Click maps can show users clicking on images, text, or icons that aren’t linked. This usually means they expected something to happen.

👉 Fix this by:

• Linking the image or adding a nearby CTA button
• Using UserFeedback surveys to ask what they were looking for

Improve Site Navigation

If users jump around with no clear path, it might mean your navigation is unclear. Review and:

• Simplify menu structure
• Ensure every page is easy to reach in 1–2 clicks
• Use descriptive labels and logical groupings

🔗 Need help? See custom WordPress menu guide.

Make CTA Buttons Unmissable

Low conversions? Your CTA buttons may need:

• Better colors for contrast
• Stronger wording (e.g., “Get My Free Guide” instead of “Submit”)
• Better placement — above the fold, or after content peaks

Use heatmap insights + device filters to optimize for mobile as well.

🧪 Pro Tip: A/B Test for Best Results

Heatmaps show what’s happening — but A/B testing shows what works best. Once you spot opportunities for improvement:

• Test new button placements, headlines, or layouts
• Use a WordPress A/B testing plugin or built-in MonsterInsights features

📘 Learn how to A/B test in WordPress for better data-backed decisions.

👉 I hope this article has helped you set up WordPress heatmaps.