Heat-map interface

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for presenting event data in a heat-map interface. Event data describing user interactions with a content item can be gathered and used to generate the heat map. The gathered event data can be filtered prior to processing to exclude unnecessary or irrelevant event data. The event data can be filtered based on numerous criteria such as a determined type of user interaction, demographic data, location of the event data, content item, etc. Filtering rules can be based on an analysis of the content item to determine what event data to exclude and current performance of the system. The filtered event data can be presented in a heat-map interface that represents the frequency at which event data occurs on an item of content based on location. The event data is analyzed to determine optimization rules that dictate selection of content items.