Guidelines for information hierarchy
This article covers why and how to organize your information hierarchy in a way that makes sense for your users.
Navigation might seem unimportant because experienced users looking for specific answers will typically use your docs search bar.
But for newer users and prospects, your documentation information hierarchy serves as a mental model for how to think about your product. Navigation thus serves as a critical selling point by helping people quickly grasp what you offer.
Your navigation is like a subway map. It tells you how the whole system hangs together, which is crucial for users evaluating your product.
- CT Smith, Head of Docs at Payabli
Align with key stakeholders like your founders, product managers, or engineering leads on how your product works, what’s most important, and how users should interact with it.
Example questions to ask:
After mapping the structure, if you have uncertainty about whether this hierarchy makes logical sense, describe your reasoning and ask an LLM to find gaps. Use the prompt “How would you organize this for maximum understanding?”
Once you’ve established a structure, you need to validate whether it actually works for real users. The way people navigate your documentation often reveals gaps in your information architecture that internal teams might overlook.
Use tools like session replays (e.g. FullStory, Hotjar) or analytics (e.g. Mixpanel) to study how users move through your docs. Pay attention to:
If you’re able to hop on a call and ask users, ‘Show me how you find answers,’ you might be surprised. They’re often using documentation in ways you don’t understand.
- Sarah Edwards, Documentation Engineer at Datastax
Analytics help surface trends, but direct conversations provide deeper insights.
Get on research calls where customers attempt to find answers to specific questions. Ask them to narrate their thought process as they navigate.
New hires are also a great proxy for fresh users. Before they get too familiar with your product, ask them to complete a task using only the documentation.
Have them outline in detail how they approached it—where they clicked first, how they interpreted section names, and where they got stuck. Since they lack prior context, their instincts can reveal whether your docs are intuitive or if they assume too much knowledge.
Based on your observations, look for these common navigation issues:
Try to avoid egregious issues but remember, it’s hard to make documentation organization work for everyone.
“Creating a nav structure that makes sense to everyone can be difficult, but try to find something that works for a majority of customers.” —Brody Klapko, Technical Writer at Stash
Above all, stay flexible. Your navigation should evolve with your product and user needs.
You don’t have to be right on the first try. Use all available tools and perspectives to inform your decisions, but be ready to adjust based on how users actually interact with your documentation.
- Ethan Palm, Senior Manager of Docs at Github