How to Create a SharePoint Hub Site and Associate Sites
Summary
Hub sites in SharePoint provide a way to organize multiple related sites under a unified navigation and branding structure. A hub site serves as the central connection point, allowing associated sites to share common navigation menus, themes, search scope, and governance policies. This article explains what hub sites are, how to register a site as a hub, associate other sites with it, and manage the shared resources and limits that apply to hub organizations.
What Is a Hub Site?
A hub site is a SharePoint site designated to serve as the organizational center for a group of related sites. Unlike a traditional site collection or team site, a hub site does not contain the actual content—it acts as a navigation and governance layer that connects multiple existing sites.
Key Characteristics of Hub Sites
Shared Navigation: All sites associated with a hub inherit and display the hub's top-level navigation menu. This creates a consistent navigation experience across all connected sites.
Shared Branding and Theme: The hub's theme, logo, and color scheme can be applied to associated sites, ensuring visual consistency across the related site group.
Unified Search Scope: By default, searching from a hub site searches across all associated sites simultaneously, eliminating the need for users to search within individual sites separately.
Governance and Metadata: Hub sites support shared metadata columns and search refiners that can be applied consistently across associated sites.
Hierarchical Organization: Hubs provide a logical way to organize large SharePoint environments where you have departmental, divisional, or project-based groupings.
Hub Sites vs. Site Collections
A hub site differs from a traditional site collection. A site collection is a technical container with its own governance and administration. A hub site is an administrative overlay that logically groups existing sites. Multiple site collections can be associated with a single hub without changing their technical structure.
Registering a Site as a Hub Site
Any existing SharePoint site can be registered as a hub site. The registration process designates the site as a hub and enables features needed to manage associated sites.
Prerequisites
You must be a global administrator or SharePoint administrator in your tenant
The site must already exist (create it first if needed)
The site should be a communication site or a team site
Steps to Register a Site as a Hub
Navigate to the site you want to designate as a hub
Select the Settings gear icon in the top-right corner
Choose Hub site settings from the menu
Click Register as hub site
Confirm the action in the dialog
Once registered, the site becomes a hub site. Features such as hub navigation, shared themes, and hub association management appear in the site's settings and administration panels.
Post-Registration Configuration
After registering the site as a hub, configure the following elements:
Hub Site Name and Description: These appear in the hub association experience and help site administrators understand the hub's purpose.
Hub Navigation: Add links to the top-level navigation that will appear on all associated sites. This typically includes links to the hub home page and major divisional or departmental destinations.
Hub Theme: Set a theme for the hub. Associated sites can inherit this theme automatically or apply their own variations.
Hub Logo: Upload a logo that displays consistently across associated sites.
Associating Sites with a Hub
Once a hub site exists, other sites can be associated with it. This process connects a site to the hub without moving or restructuring the site's content.
Who Can Associate a Site with a Hub?
Global administrators
SharePoint administrators
Site owners (owners of the site being associated)
Steps to Associate a Site
From the site to be associated:
Go to Settings (gear icon)
Select Hub site settings
Click Associate with a hub site
From the dropdown list, choose the hub site you want to associate with
Click Save
Alternatively, hub site administrators can associate sites directly from the hub's administration panel:
Navigate to the hub site
Go to Settings > Hub site settings
Select Manage hub site members or Associated sites (terminology varies by version)
Add the site URL or select from available sites
Confirm the association
Limits on Associated Sites
A single hub site can have up to 2,000 associated sites. Most organizations never reach this limit, but very large enterprises managing dozens of sites should be aware of this boundary.
Shared Navigation and Branding
How Navigation Works with Hub Sites
The hub site's main navigation menu automatically displays on all associated sites. This shared navigation typically appears at the top of each page and includes links configured by the hub administrators.
Users can still see site-specific navigation below the hub navigation, creating a two-tier structure:
Top tier: Hub navigation (shared across all associated sites)
Bottom tier: Site-specific navigation (unique to each individual site)
Customizing Hub Navigation
Navigate to the hub site
Go to Settings > Hub site settings
Select Edit hub navigation or Manage navigation (depending on your version)
Add, remove, or reorder navigation links
Set links to point to associated sites, external resources, or specific pages within the hub or associated sites
Navigation changes apply immediately to all associated sites, so test changes and communicate updates to users if significant restructuring occurs.
Applying Themes and Branding
Hub sites support theme application to associated sites. Administrators can:
Set a default theme for the hub that automatically applies to associated sites
Allow individual site owners to customize the theme while maintaining brand colors or logos
Use theme variations to maintain consistency while allowing minor site-specific adjustments
Theme changes made at the hub level do not automatically override site-specific theme choices unless the policy is explicitly configured to enforce hub branding.
Unified Search Across Hub Sites
One significant advantage of hub sites is unified search. When a user searches from the hub site or any associated site, the search results include content from all sites in the hub.
How Hub Search Works
Search queries executed within the hub environment return results from:
The hub site itself
All associated sites
Any shared metadata or search refiners configured at the hub level
This approach eliminates the need for users to know which specific site contains the information they need or to run multiple searches.
Configuring Search Scope and Refiners
Hub administrators can configure search refiners (filters) that apply across all associated sites:
Navigate to the hub site
Go to Settings > Search settings
Configure default search refiners (for example, by Department, by Status, by Date)
Ensure associated sites have consistent metadata columns that map to these refiners
Search refiners must be based on metadata columns that exist across associated sites, so coordination between site administrators is necessary.
Governance and Best Practices
Planning Hub Site Structure
Before creating hub sites, plan the structure based on your organization's needs:
Departmental hubs: One hub per major department
Project-based hubs: One hub per significant project or initiative
Divisional hubs: One hub per division or business unit
Functional hubs: One hub per function (HR, Finance, IT, etc.)
Avoid creating too many hubs. Each hub requires administrative oversight, so consolidate related sites when possible.
Hub Site Governance Policies
Set clear policies for:
Who can associate new sites with the hub
Whether all associated sites must use the hub theme
How navigation links are managed
Who can modify hub-level settings
Archive or decommission procedures for inactive associated sites
Document these policies and communicate them to site owners and hub administrators.
Managing Hub Membership
Periodically review which sites are associated with a hub:
Navigate to the hub site
Check the Associated sites list
Remove sites that are no longer relevant to the hub's purpose
Archive or remove sites that have been decommissioned
Stale associations clutter navigation and search results, so maintenance is important for usability.
Multi-Level Hub Hierarchies
SharePoint supports hub-to-hub associations in some scenarios. A site associated with one hub can itself be registered as a hub and have other sites associated with it, creating a hierarchy. This approach is useful for very large organizations but adds complexity to navigation and governance.
Common Configuration Mistakes
Mistake 1: Creating too many hub sites. Every hub requires administrative maintenance. Consolidating related sites under one hub is usually better than creating separate hubs.
Mistake 2: Not planning navigation before implementation. Cluttered or disorganized hub navigation defeats the purpose of consolidation. Plan navigation structure before registering the hub.
Mistake 3: Ignoring metadata consistency. Unified search depends on associated sites using consistent metadata. Without coordinated column naming and values across sites, search refiners may not work as expected.
Mistake 4: Forcing all associated sites to use hub branding. While consistency is valuable, allowing some flexibility in site-specific branding increases site owner buy-in and adoption.
Mistake 5: Associating unrelated sites with a hub. Association should reflect actual organizational relationships. Associating random sites just to consolidate navigation creates confusion.
Mistake 6: Not communicating changes to users. When navigation, themes, or search behavior changes due to hub configuration, inform users. Unexplained changes reduce trust.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I disassociate a site from a hub after associating it?
A: Yes. Navigate to the site's settings, go to Hub site settings, and select Disassociate from hub or Remove from hub. The site remains intact and functional; it simply no longer inherits the hub's navigation and shared features.
Q: What happens to the site's content when I associate it with a hub?
A: Nothing changes to the site's content. Association is purely an administrative overlay. All existing content, permissions, and site structure remain unchanged.
Q: Can a site be associated with multiple hub sites simultaneously?
A: No, a single site can be associated with only one hub at a time. If a site needs to appear in multiple organizational hierarchies, consider restructuring your hub design.
Q: Do associated sites need to be in the same tenant as the hub?
A: Yes, all hub-associated sites must be in the same SharePoint tenant. Cross-tenant associations are not supported.
Q: How are permissions handled in a hub structure?
A: Each site maintains its own permissions. Association with a hub does not change or consolidate permissions. A user's access to content depends on the permissions assigned in each individual site, not hub membership.
Q: Can I use a hub site to manage document retention or compliance policies?
A: Hub sites do not manage retention policies directly. However, you can configure consistent retention labels or DLP policies across associated sites through the compliance center. The hub provides organizational structure; compliance is managed separately.
Q: How many levels of navigation hierarchy can I create with hubs?
A: You can have hub-to-hub associations (a hub associated with another hub), effectively creating multi-level hierarchies. However, keeping hierarchies to 2-3 levels avoids navigation confusion.
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