One embodiment of the invention sets forth a mechanism for identifying similar items within a plurality of items available to a group of users. The mechanism includes identifying a first count that indicates a number of times any user has interacted with a first item included in the plurality of items and subsequently with any other item, identifying a second count that indicates a number of times any user within the has interacted with a second item included in the plurality of items after interacting with the first item, computing a probability that indicates the likelihood of a particular user interacting with the second item after interacting with the first item based on the first count and the second count, and computing a similarity score that indicates the similarity between the first item and the second item based on the probability and a popularity score associated with the second item.