---
title: Understand topic performance
slug: content-recommendations/docs/understand-topic-performance
docTags: 
createdAt: 2026-08-05T19:40:07.189Z
---

The **Topic Performance** graph in the **Insights** section of Optimizely Content Recommendations displays a graph of **Volume** versus **Uniques**. **Volume** is the number of content items that contain a topic. **Uniques** are individual visitors who access your website during a single session.

You can use the graph to identify high- and low-performing topics. This can help you streamline the content production for individual topics. You can also save topic lists to boost content output and gather organizational feedback. 

Go to **Insights > Topic Performance **to view the graph. See [Use dashboard filters](docId\:CgNU3IhCO1Sqzp7e6Tn5-) for information on filtering and saving interaction views.

## Understand the topic performance graph

The topic performance graph is visible in a graphical and tabular format. Selecting topics on the graph automatically selects topics on the table, and vice versa. You can use the **Save icon** (see [Table view](docId\:RYocNn_DWNNFm6EGqSs-n)) to save or share your selected topics.  

### Graph view 

![](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/3lg5-yDmPgahZkR8QJqMe-20260720-150147.png)

1. **Topics** – The yellow dots display topics you selected to include in your topic list. The blue dots display topics outside your topic list.
   - Hover your cursor over a dot to view topic details, such as the exact number of **Uniques** and **Volume** for that topic. You can also view the content where the topic is displayed the most under **Most Popular Content**.
   - Click on **View Topic** to get further information on the topic.  
   - Click **View Content** to get further information on the content.
2. **Volume** – This is represented by the Y-axis. For example, (X) number of unique visitors interacted with content containing the topic *Artificial Intelligence* more than 1,213 times during a specific session.   
3. **Uniques** – This is represented by the X-unit. For example, more than 11,063 unique visitors interacted with the topic *Workflow* (Y) number of times during a single session.
4. **Line of best content strategy –** The diagonal dotted line represents the ideal number of content per the number of unique interactions.
   - Topics above the dotted line are saturated or *cold*. This indicates you have an excess of content on these topics, but limited visitor engagement.
   - Topics under the dotted line are at a deficit or *hot*. This indicates you have more visitor curiosity on these topics, but a shortage of content.
   - Topics that are nearest to the dotted line are interacted with proportionally to how much they are talked about.
5. **Zoom Mode** – This lets you zoom in or zoom out your graph for a better representation.
6. **Show Labels** – This displays the labels on all topic dots. You can zoom in to see the labels in dense areas.
7. **Help (question mark icon)** – This gives you helpful tips on understanding the graph.

### Table view

![](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/_3Gvj9dnI24mXHAPdA1cv-20260720-150147.png)

1. **Topic** – Lists all topics, alongside their **Volume** and **Uniques**. You can select individual topics from this list to include in your topic selection.
2. **Filter** – Lets you filter the topics by most trending (**Hottest First**), least trending (**Coldest First**), least interacted with (**Furthest from line**), and most interacted with (**Closest to line**) topics.
3. **Search** – Lets you search for a topic by entering keywords in the search bar.
4. **Highlight Selected Topics (star icon)** – Highlights the topics you selected on the graph or from the topic list.
5. **Categories** – Lets you select or deselect topic categories (for example, **Concepts**, **Events**, or **People**).
   - You can divide the topic list by category and add relevant topics from each category to the list.
6. **Save (save icon)** – Lets you save or clear your topic selection and view saved and shared selections.