A research method for evaluating the findability of topics in a website's hierarchy. Often called "reverse card sorting."
Participants are given a text-only version of your site structure (the "tree") and asked to find where specific items or information would be located. This isolates the navigation labels and structure from visual design distractions.
Build a simplified text version of your sitemap (e.g., in a spreadsheet or testing tool). Include all main categories and subcategories.
Create realistic scenarios. Instead of "Find the Contact page," say "You want to email customer support about a broken item."
Ask participants to click through the tree to find the answer to each task. They select a final destination node.
Look at success rates and "directness" (did they go straight there or backtrack?).
Percentage of users who chose the correct destination.
Percentage of users who went directly to the answer without backtracking.
How long it took to find the answer. Long times indicate confusion.