How to Structure a SharePoint Intranet Homepage
Summary
The SharePoint intranet homepage serves as the central hub for employee access to organizational content, resources, and communications. A well-structured homepage requires intentional planning around layout, content hierarchy, audience targeting, and governance. This article covers the essential elements needed to design and configure a homepage that balances organizational needs with user navigation and accessibility.
Planning Your Homepage Strategy
Before adding web parts and content, establish clear objectives for your intranet homepage. Determine what employee segments require, which organizational priorities should be visible, and how the homepage will direct traffic to specific business functions or department sites.
Start by mapping employee roles and information needs. Different users may require different entry points: IT staff might need access to service requests and documentation, while sales teams need visibility into leads and resources. A homepage serving multiple audiences must accommodate these variations through audience targeting and progressive disclosure of content.
Document the key purposes your homepage must serve. Common purposes include announcing organizational changes, showcasing recent news, enabling quick access to frequently used tools, promoting employee engagement content, and providing navigation to departmental sites. Not every intranet homepage needs to serve all purposes—clarity on priorities helps prevent cluttered layouts and content overload.
Homepage Layout Fundamentals
SharePoint intranet homepages typically use a responsive grid layout that adapts to different screen sizes. The layout typically follows a visual hierarchy that guides users' attention toward the most important content first.
Section Organization
Organize content into logical sections, placing high-priority information above the fold. The first section visible without scrolling should address the most urgent or frequently accessed content. Subsequent sections can address secondary topics or departmental content.
Use consistent spacing between sections to improve readability and visual clarity. SharePoint section layouts—such as two-column, three-column, and single-column options—provide flexibility for different content types. A common approach places hero content or featured announcements in a full-width section at the top, followed by narrower sections for supporting content.
Header and Hero Section
The hero section occupies prominent real estate and communicates organizational or thematic messaging. This section typically spans the full width of the page and contains either a large image with overlay text, a video background, or a gradient with text highlighting a current initiative or company value.
Keep hero section messaging concise and action-oriented. This is not the place for lengthy corporate copy. A clear headline (3-5 words) with an optional subheading and call-to-action button are the standard elements.
Key Web Parts for Homepage Content
SharePoint provides several web parts designed specifically for homepage use. Understanding their purposes helps ensure appropriate placement and content strategy.
News Web Part
The News web part displays recent articles from your site or connected sites. Configure this web part to pull stories from designated news libraries or sites. The News web part typically shows articles as card layouts with headlines, summaries, and publish dates.
Set appropriate refresh frequency and article count. Showing 3-6 recent articles prevents the homepage from becoming a static archive of old content. If you display too many articles, users must scroll extensively to access other content. Configure the web part to highlight featured news or filter by specific content categories to ensure homepage visibility supports your communication strategy.
Hero Web Part
The Hero web part displays a visually prominent section with an image or video background, text overlay, and buttons. This web part is ideal for announcing significant events, policy changes, or major initiatives requiring organization-wide attention.
Limit hero sections to one or two per homepage. Multiple hero sections compete for attention and dilute the impact of each message. Rotate hero content regularly to maintain freshness and ensure the homepage reflects current organizational priorities.
Quick Links Web Part
The Quick Links web part provides button-style navigation to frequently accessed resources. Unlike traditional navigation menus, Quick Links appear as prominent icons or tiles that encourage clicks.
Populate Quick Links with tools, forms, and resources that multiple employee segments regularly access. Common examples include HR systems, expense reporting, IT helpdesk submission forms, and policy documentation. Limit Quick Links to 6-12 items to prevent overwhelming users with options.
People Web Part
The People web part displays profiles for specific colleagues, such as department leadership or help desk contacts. This web part helps personalize the intranet and provides easy access to organizational contacts.
Configure the People web part to show position holders or team members with appropriate contact information. Include profile pictures to enhance personal connection and recognition.
Events Web Part
The Events web part displays upcoming events from your organizational calendar. This web part helps promote company meetings, training sessions, and social gatherings.
Ensure event details are current and that past events are removed or archived. Configure filtering to display only relevant event categories or locations so employees see appropriate events for their context.
Highlighted Content Web Part
The Highlighted Content web part displays content from multiple sites based on specified criteria such as content type, date range, or tags. This web part is useful for surfacing recent documents, training materials, or policy updates across department boundaries.
Apply filters to ensure the Highlighted Content web part displays truly relevant material. Overly broad filtering produces unclear results that reduce utility.
Content Strategy and Governance
Homepage content requires ongoing management to remain current and relevant. Establish governance policies that clarify ownership, approval processes, and publishing frequency for different content types.
Define who may edit homepage content. In larger organizations, a content team typically manages the homepage rather than allowing individual departments autonomy. Centralized governance ensures consistent quality and prevents conflicting messages.
Set expectations for content refresh cycles. News should be updated at least weekly. Quick Links should be reviewed monthly to remove outdated items. Seasonal or time-limited content should be archived when no longer relevant.
Implement a review process for significant homepage changes. Changes affecting navigation, top-level messaging, or visibility of major initiatives should involve stakeholder review before publication.
Audience Targeting and Progressive Disclosure
Not all employees need identical information. SharePoint supports audience-targeted content that displays different web parts or content based on user roles or group membership.
Use audience targeting for:
Department-specific news and quick links
Role-specific resources or training
Regional content for geographically distributed organizations
Confidential or restricted content requiring security clearance
Target audiences based on security groups managed by your directory system. Avoid creating excessive targeting rules, which can make homepage maintenance complex and unpredictable for users who don't understand why content appears or disappears.
Document audience-targeted content clearly so administrators understand which content targets which users. This prevents confusion when updating or removing targeted sections.
Mobile Considerations
SharePoint homepages must render effectively on mobile devices. Test your homepage layout on tablets and phones to ensure:
Text remains readable without excessive scrolling
Images and videos load appropriately on smaller screens
Buttons and quick links are appropriately sized for touch interaction
Forms and input fields function correctly on mobile browsers
SharePoint's responsive design automatically adapts layouts for smaller screens, but complex multi-column layouts may need adjustment. Consider whether some web parts should hide on mobile devices or reorder to better suit portrait orientation.
Common Mistakes and Pitfalls
Overcrowded layouts: Adding too many web parts or sections forces users to scroll extensively and dilutes the impact of important messages. Prioritize ruthlessly and remove content that doesn't serve primary objectives.
Stale content: Outdated news, past event dates, and broken links reduce user trust in the intranet. Establish content governance and remove or update stale content immediately.
Unclear targeting: Complex audience targeting rules can produce confusing results where some users see different content without understanding why. Keep targeting straightforward and documented.
Inconsistent updates: If Quick Links include a form that no longer accepts submissions or News sections reference initiatives that have concluded, users lose confidence in the homepage's reliability. Treat homepage maintenance as an ongoing responsibility.
No mobile testing: Homepages may display perfectly on desktop but become unusable on mobile devices. Regular mobile testing prevents surprises when employees access your intranet from phones or tablets.
Too many hero sections: Multiple competing headlines create visual chaos and weaken each message. Limit hero content to essential announcements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How often should we update homepage content? A: At minimum, news should update weekly and Quick Links should be reviewed monthly. Hero messaging can rotate based on your communication schedule. Establish a maintenance calendar to ensure consistent updates.
Q: Can we show different homepages to different user roles? A: Yes, through audience targeting. You can configure specific web parts or sections to display only to certain security groups or roles. However, excessive customization can become difficult to manage.
Q: What's the ideal number of Quick Links? A: Six to twelve Quick Links represents a practical balance. Fewer may leave users searching for common tools; more creates decision fatigue.
Q: Should we include external links on the homepage? A: You can, but limit external links to widely-used third-party tools or resources. Excessive external linking trains users to abandon the intranet for external sites, which undermines the intranet's purpose as a central hub.
Q: How do we ensure mobile accessibility? A: Test your homepage on multiple devices during development and after major changes. SharePoint provides responsive templates, but complex custom designs may require additional mobile optimization.
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