Tree testing

A logical structure for your website is hugely important, as it ensures not only that your conversion rate increases, but also that the overall duration of a visit is extended. Tree testing ensures that this logical structure is easily achieved. Tree testing is a testing method that tracks a visitor’s journey, giving you all the freedom you need to build a logical website structure. Start your tree testing now and improve your website straight away!

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What is tree testing?

When you build a website, everything makes sense to you. You know exactly where to find which content and can therefore easily link information back to a relevant topic. It’s great that you can do this, but the art of website design lies in ensuring your website is structured in such a way that everyone can do the same. To test whether this is the case, you use tree testing. This testing method provides answers to the following questions:

  • Can users find the information straight away without having to keep going back to check?
  • Are users finding the information they’re looking for?
  • Can users find the information quickly without having to think about it?

Tree testing allows you to check whether your website is structured logically. You ask random users of your website to find specific information, using your site map as a guide. You then look at which pages they click on. If they are directed to the correct pages straight away, you can conclude that your website is structured logically. If users regularly click on the wrong page, it is up to you to analyse this information and restructure your website.

The benefits of tree testing

Can be implemented quickly
Relatively low-budget
Understandable for everyone
Improved discoverability through a higher ranking on Google
Rapidly increase your conversion rate by improving the discoverability of your products
Can be used to complement other methods of usability testing

Creating a tree structure in 5 steps

To successfully create a tree structure on your website, we recommend following a set step-by-step plan. We’ll explain this step-by-step plan for you!

Step 1 – Website analysis
Before you can start tree testing, it is important to determine where you are coming from. Your website’s current results are measured, but we also examine the current tree structure. In many cases, this will look very logical, but during the process it will be adapted to a structure that works for everyone. You measure the current results so that, at the end, you can also demonstrate that your changes have been successful.
Step 2 – Strategy definition
Now that you know how your website is performing, you should know exactly which pages are doing well and which are not. Based on this data, you can devise a strategy: you’ll try to promote underperforming pages more effectively, whilst doing as little as possible to your high-performing pages. You can now structure your A/B tests, as you know what you want to investigate and what results you want to achieve from them.
Step 3 – Carrying out tests
Your strategy is in place: time to start your tree testing. You gather a group of different users who all fit into your target audience and then let them explore your website. The testers are all given different tasks, namely to indicate where they think they can find certain information within your menu structure. You collect the answers and then repeat this a few times, each time focusing on a different page as the central target.
Step 4 – Applying the results
Now that you’ve seen what your target audience thinks of your website, it’s time to put the results into practice. There’s a good chance that a page which isn’t performing as well as you’d like is also difficult to find. The place where this page is expected to be is now the place where you should put it. Future visitors to your website who are looking for this information will find it more easily, which will improve your conversion rate.
Step 5 – Monitoring and repetition
Now that you’ve implemented all the changes, it’s time to assess how effective your adjustments actually are. Of course, we hope that your new tree structure is perfect and that the desired results are coming in, but it’s never a bad idea to repeat the process until it’s truly perfect.

What is the difference between tree testing and card sorting?

Tree testing is also known as ‘reversed card sorting’: what you do in tree testing is essentially achieve the same result, but in exactly the opposite way. To explain this, we’ll outline the card sorting method for you:

In card sorting, the test user is given a list of different topics. They are then asked to group them themselves. This creates a tree structure that makes sense to the user of your website, which you can then use to guide that user logically through your website.

With tree testing, the opposite actually happens: you already have a tree structure and ask the user taking part in your test to test this for you. They are presented with a pre-defined grouping, which allows you to better assess whether your line of thinking is clear to everyone. There are arguments in favour of both methods of usability testing, but in many cases, tree testing works better than card sorting, as your website often already has a tree structure. Card sorting is more effective when you’re building a website from scratch.

Uncertainty time: the crucial factor

The term ‘uncertainty time’ plays a crucial role in carrying out tree testing. Uncertainty time refers to the time users need to find the correct location in the tree structure when searching for specific information. This process is invaluable for SEO optimisation, as it helps to identify bottlenecks in navigation that may affect the user experience. By understanding how long users hesitate and search, website administrators can refine their content structure and create search engine-friendly paths, thereby improving the discoverability and accessibility of key information.

Information architecture tips from Traffic Today

If you’d like to get started with information architecture (IA) yourself, Traffic Today has a few useful tips for you to put into practice. Over the years, we have carried out tree testing for many different clients: we’re happy to share the results. By following these tips, you can be sure that you’ll be able to use tree testing quickly and effectively.

  1. Pay attention to your target audience: A/B testing can be very effective, but only if the users taking part in your tests actually match your target audience. If you don’t do this, you’ll collect data that bears no relation to the behaviour of the visitors you can ultimately expect on your website.
  2. Rapid implementation: as creating a website takes quite a lot of time, people are sometimes sceptical about whether they should actually implement the results of IA. You know more about it than your visitors, don’t you? Whilst this is certainly true, it’s important to realise that your website isn’t ultimately designed for you, but for your target audience. So the results are definitely worth acting on.
  3. Enough is enough: you might think ‘the more results, the better’, but in the case of tree testing, that is often not true. In fact, the major advantage of this testing method is that you don’t need a large number of testers to get to the bottom of things. If, after five tests, you notice the same pattern recurring, you can actually draw your conclusion already. This saves you time and money.
  4. Go for it! As you’ve read by now, tree testing is a highly effective testing method, but you do need to know exactly how to set up a tree test before you can run it. When you partner with an online marketing agency such as Traffic Today , you can be sure that your tests will be carried out correctly and that the results will be analysed effectively.

Tree testing as part of your Traffic Today SEO strategy

If you’re looking for a marketing agency to apply tree testing to your business, look no further than Traffic Today! We don’t take a haphazard approach; instead, we ensure that tree testing works as part of your SEO strategy. In this way, we not only ensure that your website functions optimally in terms of its tree structure, but we also ensure that your website performs better overall in terms of search engine optimisation. If you’d like to experience this approach to conversion optimisation straight away, please get in touch with us! We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

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Want to find out more about tree testing?

Wondering whether visitors can find your content easily? Using tree testing, our CRO specialists determine whether your navigation structure is logically organised. Together, we optimise the user experience and increase the conversion rate!

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