TL;DR: Clarity heatmaps come in five types, and three answer most small-business questions: scroll maps show whether anyone reaches your call to action, click maps show what people try to click, and area maps show how a whole section performs. Clean the data before you read any of them, or you are studying your own team and repeat visitors.
The one-sentence answer: Use a Clarity scroll map to see how far visitors get, a click map to see which elements they click (including ones that aren't links), and an area map to measure a whole section, after filtering out internal and repeat visitors and splitting desktop from mobile.
We've run Clarity on clickwerxs.com since August 13, 2026. The first lesson from it wasn't about heatmaps at all. It was that 23 of the 27 zero-click sessions entering our quote page came from just four Clarity user IDs, as we wrote up in our session recordings guide.
Those sessions are page views too. A quote-page heatmap covering September 3 to 25 with no filters includes them, so it partly reflects four repeat visitors rather than prospects. That's the frame for everything below: a heatmap is an average, and an average is only as honest as the sessions inside it.
What are Clarity heatmaps?
Clarity heatmaps are aggregated pictures of how visitors interact with a page, built from the clicks and scrolls Clarity already records. Microsoft supports five types: click maps, scroll maps, area maps, conversion maps and attention maps. They're free, they appear within seconds, and there's no minimum traffic needed to generate one.
Microsoft says it plainly: "There's no minimum traffic limitation to generate a heat map." That's a feature and a trap. Clarity will draw a confident red-and-blue picture from a handful of page views.
A few mechanics worth knowing before you open one:
- Page views are capped at 100,000 per heatmap, per Microsoft's scroll, click and area map pages. Ours, at 142 sessions a month across the whole site, are nowhere near it.
- Heatmaps work for one page or a group of pages. Enter a URL, part of a URL, or several path filters.
- Heatmap data is kept for 9 months, while playback recordings are kept for 30 days, per Microsoft's data retention page. You can go back further in heatmaps than in recordings.
If you haven't installed Clarity yet, start with what Microsoft Clarity is and why we run it, then install it without hurting your PageSpeed score.
What does a Clarity scroll map tell you?
A Clarity scroll map tells you what share of visitors reached each depth of a page. Its left panel breaks the page into 5% increments, showing the number of visitors and the percent who dropped off at each point. It also marks the average fold: the part of the page visitors saw on average before they started scrolling.
This is the map to open first. Our site-wide average scroll depth in the 30 days to September 26, 2026 was 43.09%. That's an average across every page, not a measurement of any one call to action. It's still a hint that a call to action at the bottom of a long page may be missed in many sessions.
How to read one:
- Find your primary call to action on the page and hover over it. Clarity shows the exact percent of visitors who reached that line.
- Check the average fold. Anything above it was seen by a typical visitor without scrolling. Anything that matters and sits far below it needs a reason to be there.
- Look for cliffs, not slopes. A steady decline is normal reading behaviour. In our reading, a sudden drop at one section often means that section looked like the end of the page, or stopped earning the next scroll.
Microsoft adds a detail that matters if your page changes state: when you switch the screenshot a heatmap is drawn on, click and area data update, but "scroll data remains the same for all the screenshots."
What does a Clarity click map show?
A Clarity click map shows where visitors clicked or tapped, ranked by element, including things that aren't links. Clarity attributes clicks to page elements rather than raw mouse coordinates, which Microsoft says keeps the map accurate across different screen sizes, responsive layouts and page states.
The left panel lists elements by click count. Pick one and you can jump straight to the recordings where someone clicked it, which is the fastest route from "what" to "why."
Click maps come in six types:
| Click map type | What it shows | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| All clicks | Every click and tap | First look at any page |
| Dead clicks | Clicks with no effect | Finding things people think are buttons |
| Rage clicks | Rapid clicks in one small area | Broken or slow controls |
| Error clicks | Clicks just before a JavaScript error | Bugs that only show up for some visitors |
| First clicks | The first thing clicked on the page | Where visitors start (Microsoft: onboarding patterns) |
| Last clicks | The final click on the page | Where visitors go next, or leave from |
On our site, dead clicks were the signal with volume: in the same 30-day window, Clarity flagged them in 11.27% of our sessions, which is 16 sessions. A dead-click map shows where clicks did nothing. That can be a broken control, a slow response, or a headline, image or icon that looks clickable.
One message confuses people: "This element is not visible on this page." Microsoft explains that heatmaps are drawn from recordings, and the click ranking covers all page views, so a visitor may have clicked something that doesn't exist in the recording the map is drawn on. It can be a menu, a modal or content that only appears in some states.
When should you use an area map instead of a click map?
Use an area map when the question is about a section, not a single element. An area map adds up clicks for everything inside a region you draw and reports its click-through rate, which Microsoft defines as clicks on the area divided by total clicks on the matched pages.
That makes it the right tool for questions like "does anyone use the pricing table?" or "how much of the page's clicking happens in the header?" A click map would scatter those answers across a dozen elements.
Three limits from Microsoft's area map page to plan around:
- Areas can't be saved. They don't persist like segments, and they don't carry over if you switch to another part of Clarity.
- Area maps can't be downloaded at the moment, while Microsoft's click, scroll and attention map pages list a CSV or PNG download.
- Areas are tied to the URL and filters you drew them on, and can't be moved to another heatmap.
Screenshot or write down an area map's numbers before you leave the page.
What do conversion maps and attention maps add?
Conversion maps show which clicked areas lead to purchases, and attention maps show how long visitors spend on each part of a page. Conversion maps are only available where Clarity detects purchase events, so sites that don't take purchases online won't see them. Attention maps work on any page and complement the scroll map.
Microsoft's conversion map page states the requirement directly: "Conversion maps are available on projects where Clarity detects purchase events." A contractor's quote form isn't a purchase. If your site doesn't sell online, skip it.
Attention maps report two numbers per slice of the page: average time spent, and that time as a percent of the average session length. Warmer means more time. Read them alongside the scroll map. A section most visitors reach but spend almost no time on is being skimmed past.
Should you read desktop and mobile heatmaps separately?
Yes. Every Clarity heatmap has a device switch for PC, tablet and mobile, and the same page behaves differently on each. On a phone, less of the page fits on screen and side-by-side sections often stack, so a call to action beside the headline on desktop can sit well below the fold.
Check the page-view count on each device separately. About 7% of our sessions (10) came from mobile browsers, so on our own site a mobile heatmap is a handful of page views.
Clarity's Compare mode puts two heatmaps side by side. You can compare the same page across devices, date ranges or segments, or two different pages. Microsoft notes compare mode defaults its time frame to "Last 3 days," so widen it before drawing conclusions on a low-traffic page.
Compare mode also has limits: no View recordings from a compared click map, no sharing or downloading, and no comparing across Clarity projects.
How do you keep a Clarity heatmap from misleading you?
Keep a heatmap honest by controlling which sessions go into it. Exclude your own team and known repeat visitors, set a time frame with enough page views to matter, check the page-view count in the bottom panel, and confirm the page was rendered with its current styling. In our experience, the inputs cause more bad conclusions than the map does.
The checks we run before trusting one:
- Exclude internal and repeat visitors. Set up IP blocking for your office; Microsoft says blocked visitors are excluded from click maps and scroll maps. It only works going forward, supports IPv4 only, can't block a connection that uses both IPv4 and IPv6, and can't cover VPNs or mobile connections, which generally don't have a stable IP. For history, the Recordings filter panel shows an Exclude selection option under the Clarity user ID field, and Microsoft's filters page says filters carry across the dashboard, recordings and heatmaps. Our session recordings guide walks through both. Our filters and segments guide walks through the setup.
- Read the page-view count. It's in the bottom panel of every map. For scale: Clarity's dashboard excluded 86 bot sessions from our 30-day window, leaving 142 human sessions across the whole site. Split that across pages and devices, and some heatmaps are a handful of visits.
- Check the date range. If you changed the page last week, a 30-day heatmap mixes two different pages into one picture.
- Watch for old styling. Microsoft notes Clarity caches stylesheets and "doesn't support resource versioning," so a redesign served from the same CSS URL can render on old styles. If the heatmap looks wrong after a redesign, check this first.
- Watch recordings before acting. A heatmap shows where. A few filtered recordings show why.
Where does your scroll map say your call to action belongs?
Your call to action belongs where most of your visitors still are. Open the scroll map for your most important page, on mobile first, and answer these five questions before you change anything:
- What percent of mobile visitors reach the primary call to action?
- Is the call to action above the average fold on desktop? On mobile?
- Is there a cliff, a sudden drop, in the scroll map? Which section sits right above it?
- Do the dead-click and rage-click maps show anyone trying to click something that isn't a button?
- Is the page view count large enough that you'd act on it if a colleague showed you the same number?
If the answer to the first question surprises you, you've found your first fix. For what to do with it, our guide to website conversion rate optimization covers layout and call-to-action changes, and signs your website is costing you customers lists the problems these maps tend to uncover.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I export a Clarity heatmap?
Yes. Microsoft's click, scroll and attention map pages each list a CSV or PNG download in the top panel. Area maps can't be downloaded at the moment, per the limitations on Microsoft's area map page. Downloads aren't available inside compare mode either, so export each heatmap on its own.
Can other people change my area maps?
Yes. Microsoft's area map page says guest members, not just team members, can edit areas, including on a heatmap you share with them. Areas aren't saved, so this matters during a live session more than for a permanent setup.
Do Clarity heatmaps work on pages behind a login?
Heatmaps only appear for pages that run the Clarity tag, so a page behind a login needs the tag installed like any other. Rendering also depends on Clarity reaching your styling: Microsoft lists stylesheets on non-public servers and sites that block Clarity's access as reasons a heatmap shows unstyled HTML.
How soon after installing Clarity can I see a heatmap?
Microsoft's troubleshooting guide says to wait 30 minutes after installing the code before Clarity generates a heatmap. A heatmap worth acting on takes longer, because it needs enough page views on that one page and device to be more than a few visits.
Not sure what your heatmaps are telling you, or whether your site is set up to convert the visitors who do scroll? Talk to us about web design or get in touch.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn, "Heatmaps overview": five heatmap types; "There's no minimum traffic limitation to generate a heat map"; element-based click methodology. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2025-09-15, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, "Scroll maps": % scrolled in 5% increments, # of visitors, % drop off, average fold, 100,000 page views per heatmap, download listed as CSV or PNG. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2025-09-15, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, "Click maps": six click map types; elements ranked by clicks; view recordings from an element. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2025-09-15, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, "Area maps": CTR definition; areas can't be saved or downloaded; guest members can edit areas. learn.microsoft.com (last updated 2025-09-17, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, "Conversion maps": available where Clarity detects purchase events. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2025-12-01, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, "Attention maps": average time spent and % of session length. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2025-10-23, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, "Heatmaps Compare": compare across filters, segments, devices and pages; "Last 3 days" default; limitations. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2026-05-21, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, "Change screenshots": "scroll data remains the same for all the screenshots." learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2025-12-01, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, "Troubleshooting Heatmaps": wait 30 minutes after install; "This element is not visible on this page"; stylesheet caching and no resource versioning. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2026-05-21, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, Data retention: playback 30 days; heatmaps 9 months. learn.microsoft.com (updated 2026-06-30, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, IP blocking: IPv4 only; no IPv6, dual IPv4/IPv6, VPN or dynamic IPs; blocked visitors excluded from click maps and scroll maps. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2025-12-01, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Microsoft Learn, Filters: filters apply across Dashboard, Recordings and Heatmaps. learn.microsoft.com (page dated 2026-05-21, retrieved 2026-10-02)
- ClickWerxs, Microsoft Clarity project for clickwerxs.com: 142 sessions after 86 bot sessions excluded, 43.09% average scroll depth, dead clicks in 11.27% of sessions (16 sessions), 30 days to September 26, 2026; 23 of 27 zero-click quote-page sessions from four Clarity user IDs in the 100 most recent recordings, September 3 to 25, 2026; about 7% of sessions (10) from mobile browsers. Operator data.
Kaleb Dickhaut — Founder, ClickWerxs. Kaleb built ClickWerxs from the ground up, from payment processing ISO to the Command Center platform to the AI SEO methodology the blog runs on. He has onboarded hundreds of small businesses onto payment and CRM systems. linkedin.com/in/kaleb-dickhaut