There’s a fine line between guiding the user into content and letting them dictate their own journey. I’m finding that trying to express that fine line to content owners and creators can be a tricky exercise.
I have responsibility for site navigation tools and site search functionality in my new role. I am trying to persuade stakeholders to consider the disorientating effect users may experience when drilling too far down on a pre-determined path. But I am also confronted by the limitations of the search engine platform adopted by the business.
Arguably three nodes of a hierarchical taxonomy are enough to satisfy users’ information discovery behaviour. Especially experienced users of a certain and targeted demographic. Once they get a sense of a subject area’s scope, the targeted user should have an idea of the specific information, guidance or service they are looking for.
This is especially true in the research behaviour of targeted users. They are predominantly Googlers. 80% of the targeted user base uses Google for their online researching needs. They are more likely to be increasingly familiar with the information readily available out there and likely to carry that expectation to our site.
Search log analysis and quantifiable user behaviour should inform this assumption. I shall post my findings in due course.
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