Information architecture is rarely a one-and-done project. It’s a living system that needs maintenance. And if you’re not actively maintaining it, it’s drifting.

Pages multiply. Categories bloat. Content overlaps. Outdated pages stay live “just in case.” And what was once a tight, intuitive structure becomes confusing, redundant, or irrelevant.

That’s information architecture drift—the slow breakdown of your site’s structure due to ungoverned growth, neglected cleanup, and shifting priorities.

In this article, we’ll break down what causes IA drift, how to spot content decay, and what you can do to keep your site structure relevant, clean, and useful.

What Causes IA Drift

• New content gets added without reviewing or updating the surrounding structure
• Old content is rarely audited, retired, or redirected
• Teams grow or reorganize, and ownership of IA becomes unclear
• Navigation changes are made tactically, not strategically
• Content is duplicated or siloed across multiple sections
• Legacy pages remain published long after their value expires

Symptoms Your IA Needs Maintenance

• Your sitemap has grown substantially but your nav hasn’t changed
• Users frequently rely on search instead of navigation
• Site search returns multiple outdated or redundant results
• Bounce rates are high on content that used to perform well
• You see duplicate content published under slightly different titles
• Categories contain wildly uneven amounts of content (some empty, some overloaded)
• You find orphaned pages with no internal links
• Staff aren’t sure what content to update, archive, or link to

How to Fix and Prevent IA Drift

1. Conduct regular content audits: Review your content quarterly or biannually. Flag pages that are outdated, underperforming, duplicated, or no longer relevant. Don’t just evaluate based on traffic—check usefulness, accuracy, and clarity.
2. Define content lifecycle rules: Decide in advance when content should be reviewed, updated, or archived. Set time-based triggers (e.g., after 12 months) or event-based ones (e.g., product changes).
3. Build and enforce a governance plan: Document who owns each section of the site. Assign responsibility for updates, approvals, and periodic reviews. Empower content owners to maintain quality—not just publish.
4. Use tagging and metadata intentionally: Clean up legacy tags. Limit new tags to a controlled set. Avoid category/tag overlap, and use filters that reflect user goals—not internal teams or departments.
5. Run sitemap and navigation audits: Check for broken links, dead ends, and pages that no longer belong in top-level navigation. Reassess IA based on user behavior—not just internal logic.
6. Map old URLs to new destinations: Redirect outdated or sunset content to more relevant pages. Use 301 redirects where needed and update internal links to reflect the new structure.
7. Track content performance over time: Use analytics to flag declining traffic, rising bounce rates, and search result clutter. Pair this data with qualitative audits to decide whether to keep, rewrite, or retire content.
8. Run card sorting or tree testing when things feel off: If you sense users are struggling to find content, test your structure. Use tools like Optimal Workshop or Maze to validate categories, labels, and hierarchy.
9. Treat IA updates like product work: Don’t leave them as side tasks. Scope IA refinements into roadmaps and retros. Use sprints to prioritize large-scale IA changes when needed.
10. Communicate changes internally: When IA shifts, tell your teams. Update guidelines, navigation documentation, and internal training materials. Help everyone use the structure the way it’s meant to be used.

IA Doesn’t Age Gracefully on Its Own

Great information architecture doesn’t stay great by default. Without maintenance, it slowly collapses under the weight of old assumptions, new content, and unintentional sprawl.

Information architecture maintenance is what keeps users oriented, content discoverable, and your digital experience usable long after launch.

So treat your IA like the product it supports. Audit it. Prune it. Rebuild it when necessary. Because the best UX isn’t just what you ship today—it’s what still makes sense six months from now.