Title: Using the Overlay bookmarklet
Author: bethurban
Published: July 17, 2025
Last modified: September 24, 2025

---

 1. [User handbook](https://docs.parse.ly/user-handbook/)
 2. [Tools and features](https://docs.parse.ly/user-handbook/tools-features/)
 3. [Overlay bookmarklet](https://docs.parse.ly/user-handbook/tools-features/overlay/)
 4. Using the Overlay bookmarklet

#  Using the Overlay bookmarklet

Using the [Overlay bookmarklet](https://docs.parse.ly/tools-features/overlay/), 
easily evaluate slot or post performance to optimize click-through rate on homepages,
as well as see data on individual posts.

Overlay tracks slot performance by monitoring the exact location on a webpage that
a reader clicks to get to an article, then storing that information in a [cookie](https://docs.parse.ly/cookies/).
When a click occurs, Overlay determines the path of the link that’s been clicked—
its position on the page relative to other HTML elements — and stores that in Parse.
ly servers.

The bookmarklet then displays badges in your browser by doing the reverse: retrieving
data from Parse.ly servers, then matching the element on the page with the path 
that was stored, along with traffic data for that post’s URL.

Overlay has [two configuration modes](https://docs.parse.ly/tools-features/overlay/tracking-options/):
tracking slots or tracking posts. Slot tracking, the default, displays metrics on
how posts perform in specific positions on a page. Post tracking displays metrics
like [engaged time](https://docs.parse.ly/measuring-reporting-performance/calculations/engaged-minutes/),
referral traffic, and visitor breakdowns for each unique URL linked on the page.

**Note**

If you would prefer Overlay to track posts instead of slots, contact Parse.ly Support
at [support@parsely.com](https://docs.parse.ly/user-handbook/tools-features/overlay/support@parsely.com?output_format=md).

## Track clicks on non-post pages

On non-post pages, such as homepages and section pages, use Overlay to optimize 
click rates by seeing how stories perform in certain page positions (or slots).

Adjust the metric that Overlay uses in the panel’s drop-down menu.

![Adjust Overlay's badge metrics using the drop-down menu.](https://docs.parse.ly/
wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/07/Overlay-metric-options.png)

Adjust Overlay’s badge metrics using the drop-down menu.

Overlay metric options include:

| Clicks per minute | Click-through rate | 
| % of page clicks | Change in click-through rate* | 
| Change in % of page clicks* | Historical click-through rate* | 
| Historical % of page clicks* |  |

*These metrics are not available for Overlay when [post tracking has been enabled](https://docs.parse.ly/tools-features/overlay/tracking-options/)
instead of slot tracking.

Opening Overlay on a non-post page displays badges on the page’s slots that use 
the selected metric. Clicking a badge on the page or a post title in the Overlay
panel opens a slot performance pop-up with more details:

![The slot performance pop-up provides more details.](https://docs.parse.ly/wp-content/
uploads/sites/5/2025/07/Slot-performance-pop-up.png)

The slot performance pop-up provides more details.

Hovering over the slot performance pop-up expands it to include details on the current
post occupying that slot:

![Hover over the slot performance pop-up for more details on the post in that slot.](
https://docs.parse.ly/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/07/Slot-performance-details.
png)

Hover over the slot performance pop-up for more details on the post in that slot.

## Post details in Overlay

![The Overlay panel when viewing a post page.](https://docs.parse.ly/wp-content/
uploads/sites/5/2025/07/Overlay-post-details.png)

The Overlay panel when viewing a post page.

When viewing the Overlay panel on a post page, it displays:

 1. A graph of the post’s [page views](https://docs.parse.ly/measuring-reporting-performance/calculations/page-views/)
    over the past 6 hours.
 2. A time period drop-down menu that affects the rest of the metrics shown in Overlay.
    Adjust from 10 minutes to 6 hours.
 3. Factoids to shed light on the post’s engagement metrics.
 4. Visitor and device breakdowns — hover over these to see more details.
 5. The top 3 referrers to the post.

Overlay does not display badges on post pages.

Last updated: September 24, 2025