What Is The Click Path?

Date First Published: 22nd February 2023

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Development

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn more about what the click path is in this article.

The click path, also known as the clickstream, is the set of hyperlinks that a user follows on a site to reach a specific destination. The click path will often begin with an external link (e.g. a search results page or a social media post) and then end within the internal links in the website. It will often start with the homepage and the click path covers all the clicks that are taken by a user to reach a specific page as a sequence of successive webpages visited by them. Analysing the click path is useful for web activity analysis, market research, software testing, and employee productivity analysis.

Example Of A Click Path

The click path starts at the first point of entry to a website. This could be from a search results page or the homepage. It ends when the user leaves the site or completes their goal. An example of a click path can be seen below:

What Is The Ideal Click Path?

The ideal click path is around 3-4 clicks. Even though a long click path can indicate that users have spent a long time on the site and have read a lot of information, it can also indicate that the user found it difficult to find the content that they wanted or was confused. The number of paths a user can take depends on the number of pages on a specific website and the structure.

Ecommerce sites often try to reduce the average click path by implementing features, such as product search filters and product category pages. This will help guide users more effectively without users having to unnecessarily click through lots of different pages. Ideally, the click path on ecommerce sites should be made as short as possible to make it quick and easy for users to look at products and make purchases. Single-page checkouts are a common option due to this reason.

Use In Applications and Websites

In applications, the click path can allow users to see where they have been, allowing them to easily go back to a page that they already visited. This function is used in most web browsers. This data can also show the time that users browsed and closed the website, all the pages they have viewed, the amount of time they spent on each page, and the pages they view most often.

Most websites collect data about visitors in regard to the click path using web analytics services. This information is often used to:

• Show personalised content relevant to what they browsed before. In addition, the data can be used to track user's browsing habits. In ecommerce, data collected about the click path enables advertisers to build personal profiles and use them to target users more effectively.
• Identify the pages that have a high exit rate.
• Identify the pages that have a high bounce rate.
• Identify the search terms that direct the most organic traffic.
• Increase conversion rates. If the average length of the click path and the elements that lead to users jumping are known, it will provide useful information for optimising websites, leading to higher conversion rates.
• Optimise websites for user experience to increase the number of positive reviews, returning visitors, and time on site.

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