Information architecture is the organisation of a website's content into a structure the user can find their way around. It includes dividing the content into sections, naming them, the hierarchy of pages, and the way the individual parts are linked together. The most common mistake is deriving the structure from the company's organisational chart or from internal terminology that only employees understand. A usable architecture is based on how the customer thinks about the topic, and uses their words. It can be tested simply: give people a list of content and let them sort it into groups and name them, or give them the task of finding a specific piece of information and watch where they click first. The structure also determines click depth and internal linking, so it has a direct impact on search as well.
See also: Click depth, Navigation and menu, Keyword mapping to pages.
