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The Overlay bookmarklet

Parse.ly overlay and slot tracking overview

The Parse.ly Overlay bookmarklet layers real-time content analytics on top of your site. Users can easily evaluate slot or post performance to optimize click-through rate on homepages, as well as see data on individual posts. Overlay can be configured in two distinct modes; tracking slots, or tracking posts. The post tracking version of Overlay shows analytics like engaged time, referral traffic, and visitors breakdowns for each unique URL linked on the page. With slot tracking enabled homepage editors can see how posts perform in specific positions on the page to optimize click-through rate

The Parse.ly Overlay bookmarklet layers real-time content analytics on top of your site. Editors can use Overlay to evaluate slot performance and optimize click-through-rate on homepages, as well as see data on individual posts.

Activate Overlay

To activate the Overlay bookmarklet follow the instructions on the Overlay settings page.

The bookmarklet may require changes to your HTML templates to function properly.

Once Overlay is activated, you can visit any page of your website, click the bookmarklet, and see contextual information about your content.

Post details

When you’re viewing a post page, Overlay shows:

  1. Page views over the past 6 hours.
  2. Time period. This extends from the last 10 minutes to 6 hours and can be changed by clicking the drop down menu.
  3. Metadata: title, author, and section. Clicking any of these links will take you to a more detailed view in the dashboard.
  4. Engagement metrics.
  5. Visitor, device, and referral breakdowns.
  6. The top three referrers to this page.

Click rates

On homepage and section pages, you can use Overlay to optimize click rates by seeing how stories perform in certain positions (or slots). Clicking on a badge or a story title in the Overlay panel will reveal specific details about the slot and the articles that have occupied it.

When you’re on a homepage or section page, Overlay shows:

  1. Badges. These display the metric you’ve selected—clicks per minute, % of clicks, or click-through rate.
  2. Slot performance. Hovering over the graph will reveal more data about the stories that were in that slot over the last six hours.
  3. Slot metrics. Click the drop down to select a metric.
  4. Stories on the page ranked according to the selected metric.

There are seven metrics for evaluating slot performance:

  • Clicks per Minute (10 minutes) – Clicks on the selected slot divided by minutes.

  • % of Page Clicks – Clicks on the selected slot divided by total clicks on the page.

    • % of Page Clicks (10 minutes)
    • Change in % of Page Clicks (10 minutes vs 6 days)
    • Historical % of Page Clicks (6 days)

  • Click-through Rate – Clicks on the particular slot divided by total page views.

    • Click-through Rate (10 minutes)
    • Change in Click-through Rate (10 minutes vs 6 days)
    • Historical Click-through Rate (6 days)

Display controls

At the bottom of the Overlay panel, there are two toggles for changing how Overlay displays on your site.

Overlay willput a heatmap on top of pages with slots. Green highlights slots that are performing well; red highlights slots that are performing subpar.

Page Scaled will reduces the page size to make it fit on smaller screens.

Questions?

Check out our FAQ & Troubleshooting page or our Technical Overview for additional instructions.

Last updated: April 21, 2023