research methods
Eye tracking
What is eye tracking, and what can it tell you?
Eye tracking records where gaze lands on a screen and how long, showing scan paths and heatmaps of fixations. It reveals what got looked at, what was skipped, and in what order - but gaze isn’t the same as attention, comprehension or intent, so results need interpreting alongside task behaviour and participant feedback. You can see this in action on this page.
Also known as: eye tracking, eye-tracking, gaze tracking, attention mapping
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The demo
A landing page. Before anything else: click the one spot you think a visitor's eyes land on first. Then reveal where attention actually tends to go.
What this demo shows (text version)
A sample landing page has a logo, a hero with a smiling face, a big headline ("Move money in seconds"), a line of body text, and a call-to-action button. You first click where you think a visitor looks first; the demo then reveals an illustrative gaze heatmap. Attention concentrates on the face and the headline, with the body text and especially the call-to-action getting far less - even though the CTA is the thing the business most wants seen.
That mismatch is what eye tracking exposes: attention goes to faces, large type, images and movement, and skips ad-like or sidelined elements, regardless of what a team intends. It's great for "did they even see it?" but it only shows what was looked at, not whether it was understood - so pair it with think-aloud, and don't mistake a fixation for comprehension. (The heatmap here illustrates well-known tendencies, not measured data.)
Eye tracking shows where gaze lands and for how long - and it’s reliably not where teams assume. Eyes go to faces, large text, images and movement; they skip ad-shaped boxes. It’s powerful for 'did they even look at it?', but looking isn’t the same as noticing, understanding or remembering, so pair it with think-aloud and task behaviour rather than reading a heatmap as proof of attention. You can see this in action on this page.
You guessed where people look first - and the heatmap probably surprised you. Attention floods the face and the headline and barely touches the call-to-action you cared about. That gap between where you put the important thing and where eyes actually go is exactly what eye tracking exposes - and why "but it's right there" is so often wrong.
Attention follows predictable pulls: human faces (and the direction they're looking), large high-contrast type, images, motion, and the natural scan patterns (the F and the Z). It actively avoids things that look like ads (banner blindness) and anything parked in a low-traffic corner. A heatmap makes "is this being seen?" answerable in a way no survey can.
Its big limitation: looking is not the same as understanding. Eye tracking tells you an element was fixated on, not whether it was read, comprehended, believed or acted on - someone can stare at a label and still be confused. So it answers "did they see it / in what order" far better than "did it work", and is strongest paired with think-aloud for the why.
It's also become more accessible: dedicated hardware gives precise data, but webcam-based and predictive "attention" tools now approximate heatmaps cheaply, and even a quick first-click or five-second test gets at the same "what gets noticed first" question without a lab. Use the method that fits the stakes - and treat all of them as evidence about attention, not proof of success.
Try the eye tracking video on this page to see real gaze paths and heatmaps in action. Eye tracking video shows what users look at - but not what they understand or remember, so pair it with task behaviour and think-alouds.
Try the eye tracking video demo here to see where users’ eyes land - it’s not what you think. Eye tracking video shows scan paths and fixations, but gaze doesn’t equal attention - pair it with task behaviour and think-alouds to interpret results. You can see this in action on this page
no screenshots or external apps, just real-time interaction.
Try eye tracking live on this page to see how gaze reveals what’s looked at - and what’s missed - without assuming intent. This demo lets you test eye tracking’s limits: it shows where eyes go, not what they understand - so pair it with task behaviour and feedback.
Try the eye tracking demo on this page to see gaze patterns in real time - it’s not just heatmaps, it’s behaviour. Eye tracking shows what users see
but not what they understand or remember - so pair it with task data, not heatmaps alone.
Try the live eye tracking demo to see how gaze reveals what’s looked at - and what’s skipped - without proving comprehension. Don’t read heatmaps as proof of attention: pair gaze data with task behaviour to avoid misreading user intent - you can test this on this page.