🔍 What Are Heatmaps on the PRO Plan?
Heatmaps are a built-in feature of the Search Atlas PRO plan. They visually track user interactions on your tracked pages — including clicks, scroll depth, and movement patterns — to help you optimise on-page performance.
On the PRO plan, heatmap tracking is enabled by default for all projects where you have active page tracking configured. Heatmap data collection and storage are included as part of your PRO plan subscription and do not incur separate per-use charges — they are bundled into your plan quota.
Note: The heatmaps described in this article are on-page interaction heatmaps that record clicks, scroll depth, and mouse movement. These are a separate feature from the Local SEO heatmaps generated by the Google Business Profile (GBP) integration, which visualise local ranking positions across a geographic grid. The tracking toggle, deletion steps, and billing notes below apply to on-page PRO heatmaps; see the FAQ for how Local SEO / GBP heatmaps differ.
⚙️ Can You Disable Heatmap Tracking?
Yes, you can stop heatmap data from being collected at any time. However, it is important to understand what disabling means in practice:
- Disabling tracking stops new heatmap data from being recorded for a selected project or page going forward.
- It does not automatically remove historical heatmap data already stored on our servers.
- Heatmaps are a core feature of the PRO plan — they cannot be permanently removed from your plan at the feature level. Disabling tracking is a self-service control, not a plan-level modification.
To disable heatmap tracking for a specific project, follow the steps below.
🛠️ How to Disable Heatmap Tracking
- Log in to your Search Atlas account and go to the Home.
- Navigate to Onpage Audit or the relevant project where heatmaps are active.
- Open Settings for that project.
- Locate the Heatmap Tracking toggle and switch it to Off.
- Confirm your selection when prompted. Tracking will stop immediately for that project.
Repeat these steps for each project where you want to pause heatmap collection.
🗑️ How to Delete Existing Heatmap Data
If you want to remove heatmap data that has already been collected, you can delete it manually from within the platform:
- Go to the Local SEO Heatmaps section. Select the page or session data you want to remove.
- Click Delete and confirm the action.
Please note: data deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Once removed, that historical heatmap data cannot be recovered. Bulk deletion options may vary depending on your account configuration — contact support if you need assistance removing large volumes of data.
💳 How Disabling Heatmaps Affects Your Billing
Because heatmaps are bundled into the PRO plan, disabling tracking or deleting data does not reduce your monthly subscription charge. Your PRO plan billing remains unchanged regardless of whether heatmap tracking is active or inactive.
If your primary goal is to reduce costs, the options available to you are:
- Downgrade your plan — if a lower-tier plan meets your needs without heatmaps, you can explore plan options under Avatar (top-right) > Billing > Plans & Top-ups and click Change Plan.
- Cancel your subscription — if you no longer wish to use Search Atlas, you can cancel under Account > Billing > Cancel Subscription. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period.
Search Atlas does not offer partial refunds or billing credits for unused features within an active PRO plan period.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
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Can I disable heatmaps entirely and have all my data removed from your servers so I'm not charged?
You can turn off tracking (stopping new data) and manually delete stored heatmap data at any time, but because heatmaps are bundled into the PRO plan, doing so will not change your subscription charge. For account-wide server-side removal, contact support using the steps below.
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Can I disable the automatic Local SEO (Google Business Profile) heatmaps?
The on-page heatmap toggle described above does not control Local SEO / GBP heatmaps, which are generated automatically by the Google Business Profile integration. There is currently no self-service option to turn off automatic GBP heatmap creation, so please contact support if you need this adjusted.
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Will my heatmap data be deleted automatically if I cancel?
Data retention policies apply after cancellation. For specifics on how long your data is held post-cancellation, please refer to our Privacy Policy or contact support.
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Can Search Atlas remove my heatmap data server-side on my behalf?
For large-scale or account-wide data removal requests that go beyond self-service deletion, please reach out to our support team via the chat widget below. Our team will review your request and guide you through the process.
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Can I re-enable heatmap tracking after disabling it?
Yes, at any time. Simply return to your project settings and toggle heatmap tracking back on.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.