Create and manage Heatmaps

To start recording user mouse movements and generating page heatmaps, you will need to first create a Heatmap. No developer knowledge is needed to configure any of the heatmaps and you don’t need to adjust the code on your website.

1. In Matomo, go to Heatmaps > Manage Heatmaps.

2. Use the Actions to manage heatmaps, such as edit, stop, view, copy and delete heatmap.
   

3. You can copy a heatmap for the same website or for other tracked websites. After copying, review and adjust the settings of the new heatmap to ensure they are correct.

4. To start a new heatmap, click on Create New Heatmap.
5. To edit a heatmap, click on the edit icon next to the name of an existing heatmap.
6. Define a name for the heatmap and optional description.
7. Choose on which target page the heatmap should be generated for.
8. To do this, choose between URL, URL path, or URL parameter attributes and comparisons like equals, starts with, contains, matches the regular expression, and many more.
9. The validator next to your target page lets you easily test whether the page you want to match actually matches the Pages for which you want to generate Heatmaps.
   

Note: Heatmaps use a stored snapshot of your page rather than the live page. The first time a heatmap is triggered, Matomo captures and stores the page structure (DOM). Subsequent heatmaps use this stored snapshot to ensure the background remains consistent.

Automatically repeat this heatmap

If you want Matomo to create a new heatmap based on the same settings 30 days after this current heatmap finishes, enable the option Automatically repeat this heatmap. This is recommended when monitoring a key page on your web site and you do not have to setup the same heatmap again.

To receive email notifications once the heatmap has finished, you can enable the notify option in General settings.

Advanced options

When configuring a heatmap, you can optionally define advanced options such as:

• choose a Screenshot URL.
• hide elements from the heatmap.
• choose a different Sample rate.
• define the Breakpoint width for Mobile phones and Tablet (useful if your website is responsive).

To disable Heatmaps or Session Recordings, define breakpoints, or restrict tracking to visitors from specific countries, go to Administration > System > General Settings > Heatmap & Session Recording and modify the settings.

Notify me when a Heatmap completes

From version 5.5.0 of the Heatmaps & Session Recording plugin, you can enable email notifications from Matomo when your Heatmaps or Session Recordings have finished collecting data.

1. Go to Administration > Personal > Settings.
2. Scroll to the HeatmapSessionRecording section.
3. Select the option, Notify me when a heatmap or session recording has finished collecting data.
   
4. Matomo will send the notification using the email address saved in your personal settings.

This helps you stay informed when enough data has been collected, making it easier to review insights when they are ready for analysis.