How to install Hotjar to your website
Hotjar is a heatmap, recording and on-site survey tool, used by businesses actively optimising a page's conversion rate. Here's how to put it on your own website, which embed option to pick, and what goes wrong.
Quick answer
Get the code from your Hotjar site settings, where the tracking script is provided. For most people the right choice is the heatmaps and recordings — where people click, scroll and get stuck. Paste it into a code or embed block on your site — not a plain text field — then place it beside your main call to action and test the whole flow on a phone before relying on it.
Hotjar: which option to use
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Heatmaps and recordings | Where people click, scroll and get stuck. |
| On-page surveys | Asking visitors directly why they did not enquire — often the fastest insight available. |
| Feedback widget | A persistent way for visitors to report problems. |
Step-by-step
- 1
Find the code or link in your account
Hotjar keeps this in your Hotjar site settings, where the tracking script is provided. Copy what you need before touching your website — most of the time people lose is spent hunting for the snippet, not installing it.
- 2
Pick the right option for the job
The table above is the decision. Heatmaps and recordings: Where people click, scroll and get stuck. On-page surveys: Asking visitors directly why they did not enquire — often the fastest insight available. Choosing before you paste saves rebuilding the section later.
- 3
Paste it into a code or embed block
This needs an HTML, code or embed block — not a plain text field, where the code will simply appear as text on your page. On Adviita, ask the AI editor to add an embed section and drop the code in. On WordPress use a Custom HTML block, on Squarespace a Code block (Business plan or above), and on Wix an Embed HTML element.
- 4
Put it where the decision happens
Tracking is plumbing: invisible when right, a compliance problem when wrong. A widget three scrolls down does a fraction of the work of the same widget beside your main call to action. Decide what the page is for, then place it at the point the visitor is deciding.
- 5
Check it on an actual phone
Most visitors to a small business website arrive on a phone, and embeds are where mobile layouts break. Open your live site on your own phone and confirm it loads, fits the screen without sideways scrolling, and does not push your contact button out of view. Third-party embeds are also the most common cause of a slow page, so if it noticeably delays loading, consider a plain link instead.
- 6
Test it end to end before you rely on it
Run through the whole flow yourself as a customer would — confirm it renders and links correctly — and confirm what should happen actually happens. Broken embeds fail silently, and the first person to notice is usually a customer who has already given up.
Tips & best practices
- ▸The free tier caps daily sessions. On a busy site you see a sample rather than everything.
- ▸Same privacy considerations as any recording tool — consent, disclosure and field masking.
- ▸An exit survey asking one question often teaches you more in a week than months of heatmap watching.
- ▸Re-test the embed after any change to your site, your plan, or the connected account — third-party widgets break quietly and nothing tells you.
Common questions
Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity?
+−
Clarity is free with no traffic cap and covers recordings and heatmaps well, which makes it the better starting point for most small businesses. Hotjar's advantage is its survey and feedback tooling — asking visitors directly why they did not get in touch. Many teams run Clarity for behaviour and Hotjar for asking questions.
What should I ask in an on-site survey?
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One question, at the right moment. 'What nearly stopped you getting in touch today?' on a contact page, or 'What were you hoping to find?' on an exit intent trigger. Single-question surveys get answered; multi-question ones get closed.
Do I need a developer to add Hotjar to my site?
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No. Every option here is copy and paste into a code or embed block, which every mainstream website builder provides. The only genuine blocker is a builder or plan that does not allow custom code at all — Squarespace, for instance, requires a Business plan or above for code blocks.
Will adding Hotjar slow down my website?
+−
Any third-party embed has some cost, because it loads code from another company's servers. One is usually unnoticeable; four or five on the same page is where small business sites become visibly slow. If page speed matters to you, prefer a plain link over a script wherever the option exists, and keep embeds to the pages that genuinely need them.