This article outlines adding topics before submitting your course for review and answers frequently asked questions about the feature.
Table of contents
- What are topics?
- How to access your course topics
- How to add or remove course topics
- How to suggest a new topic
- How to choose the representative topic
- How to submit your topics for review
- How do I choose the right topics for my course?
- Do I have to choose four topics for my course?
- Can I add any topic that I want?
- What topics are usually approved?
- Can I change the approved topics for my course?
- Can I select topics for private courses?
What are topics?
Topics are an effective way to help prospective students to locate your course more easily. Instructors provide more specific information than what is presented in categories and subcategories and enable our team to surface your course in recommendations, topic pages, and badges.
If you’re creating a new course, then you will need to select up to four topics before submitting the course for review.
How to access your course topics
Please note: Topics cannot be updated on the Udemy platform after publishing your course.
1. Access your Course Management page (Learn how).
2. Click on Course Landing Page on the left.
3. Scroll down to the What is primarily taught in your course? section
How to add or remove course topics
Type your topic in the text box and click from one of the auto-generated options. Then, click Propose another topic… to include up to four topics.
To remove an option, click on the X next to the topic name.
How to suggest a new topic
You can propose a topic that does not exist in our system.
To do so, change your profile language to English. Then, type your topic in the text box and click Propose new topic.
Please note:
- Only propose a topic that meets the criteria for your course and reflects the majority of what you are teaching in your course curriculum.
- Limit your topic to a short word or phrase rather than a sentence or paragraph. Do not include URLs.
You should see your proposed topic appear in the primary topic section.
How to choose the representative topic
If you have more than one topic listed, you will be asked to choose the most representative topic for your course. Click and select from the dropdown to confirm the option.
If multiple topics are equally representative of your entire course, you can select any option. All listed topics will count as being taught in your course.
How to submit your topics for review
Click Save at the top right or bottom of the page to confirm your topic changes. Your topic selections will be reviewed, along with the rest of your course content, when submitting the course for review.
While our review team always considers the topics suggested by instructors, they may determine to select different topics as they deem fit.
After your course is published, the topics that were approved by Udemy’s review team are locked and cannot be changed by course instructors.
How do I choose the right topics for my course?
Each topic chosen should comprehensively describe your course’s content and narrowly defines what the subject of the course is.
- “The Complete Tennis Course” should have “Tennis” selected as a topic, but not “Sports”, since the latter is too broad and not specific enough.
- If the course includes extensive information about financial modeling, and is specifically focused on this topic, then we would recommend selecting “Financial Modeling” as a topic, rather than just “Finance.”
Do I have to choose four topics for my course?
No. Instructors can select up to four topics for a course, but you’re not required to select four if you don’t feel four are applicable.
Adding irrelevant or excessive topics may misrepresent your course, leading to a poor learning experience and negative reviews.
Can I add any topic that I want?
As noted above, while you can propose a topic if it’s not currently listed as an option, our Quality Review Team will only approve a topic if it applies to your course.
What topics are usually approved?
We consider several factors before adding topics to our list. Current supply, demand, and mutual exclusivity of the concept, all factor into whether a topic will be approved.
Topics that could be approved at a later date are stored and re-evaluated periodically.
Can I change the approved topics for my course?
Topics cannot be updated on the Udemy platform after publishing your course.
If you think that the topics that were approved for your published course are incorrect or other topics are a better fit, please contact Udemy Support by clicking Contact Us to submit the new topic proposals. We can’t guarantee that your suggestion will be implemented, but we’re happy to share them with our review team for another look.
Can I select topics for private courses?
No. Currently, topics are only available for courses that are public (not private).
Learn how to adjust the privacy settings of a course.