Tree Testing: Validate Your Site's Navigation Structure

Tree testing validates your site's navigation by asking users to find items in a text-only, clickable hierarchy, stripped of all visual design. It answers: "Can people find things with these labels and this structure?" It's used to quickly evaluate a proposed information architecture before building the UI. The biggest mistake is confusing it with card sorting: card sorting helps discover how users group content, while tree testing validates if your proposed structure actually works for finding specific items.