AdSense Heat Map is a chart showing website designers the areas of a webpage where visitors are mostly likely to click on an ad. It can help real estate agents make decisions on where to place key elements on their websites.

On my AdSense blog, I've written in more detail about the AdSense Heat Map in an article entitled, "Best AdSense Placements".

Here's what the Heat Map looks like...


The orange areas are the "hot zones". These are areas where visitors are most likely to click on an ad. The darker the orange, the hotter. Google created this map based on actual AdSense performance data.

Of course, you won't probably won't have ads on your agent website. But there certainly are elements that you want your visitors to see, and click on.

For example, you want people to notice your property listings. Place them in the orange areas, I'd suggest at the top, just below the navigation bar.

If you have something special to say, put it in that darker orange area.

Your contact info would best go on the left-side, towards the top, in the orange area. You certainly want people to find your phone number, street address, and e-mail address.

Just below your contact info, and still within that orange area, place a link to a webpage outlining your credentials and expertise.

If you find that the website template you're using is not really set up to take advantage of all these hot zones, remember that you don't have to utilize every hot zone. In fact if you did, more than likely the visitor will be confused on what to focus his or her eyes on. It's better to pick just a couple of hot zones, and emphasize those.

Real Estate Blogs

Google created a heat map just for blogs...


I'd make the following recommendations...

First, the navigation column should be switched to the left, just like the design of this blog you're reading. Remember the general heat map showing the orange zones, and you'll understand why left-hand columns are better.

Second, in between blog posts, I'd recommend not stuffing anything. Just let the articles flow one after another. You can post a few links to your other websites from within the body of the article. That'll actually work better for both SEO, and referrals.

Third, treat the blue "Link Units" and the gray, "Links" column as navigational links to other areas of your blog, and to your other websites.

Real Estate Web Forums

And in the off-chance that you might be hosting your own web forum, Google has a heat map for those too...

Labels: Heat Maps, Website-Design