SharePoint Hub Sites: Quick Setup Guide

by HubSite 365 about Pragmatic Works

Pro User SharePoint Online Learning Selection

Expert guide to SharePoint Hub Site setup for Microsoft admins: organize sites, unify navigation and branding

Key insights

SharePoint Hub Site: The video shows how easy it is to set up a hub site to connect related SharePoint sites and keep navigation, branding, and search consistent across your intranet.
Register as hub site: In the SharePoint admin center select a Communication or modern Team site, choose "Register as hub site," give it a display name, and set who can associate sites.
Associate sites: Associate sites from the admin center or site settings; each site can join only one hub and will inherit the hub’s navigation and theme automatically.
Hub logo & theme: Upload a hub logo and pick a theme so all joined sites get consistent branding without manual updates on each site.
Governance controls: Control who can join hubs, enable approval flows for site associations, and use permission sync for safer, consistent access management.
Benefits and best practice: Hubs improve navigation, enable content aggregation across sites, and simplify management; use Communication or modern Team sites for full hub features.

Overview of the Video

The YouTube video by Pragmatic Works offers a concise, practical guide on creating a SharePoint Hub Site to organize related intranet sites. In the clip, Allison Gonzalez walks viewers through the key steps and highlights why hubs matter for navigation and branding. As a result, the video aims to help SharePoint admins and team owners apply hub features quickly in real environments. Overall, the presentation emphasizes ease of use and modern site compatibility.

How the Video Demonstrates Setup

First, the presenter shows how to promote an existing site to a Hub Site from the SharePoint admin center, selecting a Communication or modern Team site as the starting point. Next, she demonstrates associating other sites with the hub so they inherit the shared navigation and theme. She uses clear on-screen steps, which makes the process accessible without heavy scripting or PowerShell. Consequently, viewers can replicate the actions directly in their admin consoles.

Then, the video covers logo and theme settings, recommending a small square logo and a consistent theme for all associated sites. It also touches on toggling who can associate sites with the hub, which helps manage how open or restrictive the hub will be. The walkthrough includes a short note on automatic theme and navigation propagation, showing how these elements appear on associated sites. Therefore, the clip balances practical demonstration with governance pointers.

Finally, the presenter highlights the approval option that requires site owners to request association with the hub, adding a governance layer. This segment explains where admins can enable approval flows and control memberships, which helps keep the hub structure intentional and secure. The visual examples make it easy to see how an approval step can prevent unplanned associations. Thus, the video ties technical steps to administrative controls.

Key Benefits Explained

The video clearly explains that hubs provide unified navigation, consistent branding, and aggregated news and events across associated sites. Because a hub applies a shared theme and menu, users experience a coherent intranet that reduces confusion and improves findability. Moreover, the roll-up of content makes it simpler to surface organization-wide announcements and updates. As a result, hubs support both user experience and content discoverability.

In addition, the presenter notes that modern sites work best with hub features, so organizations get a predictable and responsive layout across devices. The admin-centered registration and association steps remove the need for custom code in many scenarios, which lowers administrative overhead. Also, the video emphasizes that the setup is fast for admins who already use modern SharePoint templates. Therefore, teams can realize benefits quickly without a lengthy rollout.

The clip also mentions permission sync as an optional tool to maintain security consistency across associated sites, useful for regulated environments. By aligning permissions and branding, hubs can enforce a central identity for a set of sites while keeping local content management intact. This balance helps organizations scale their intranet with clearer ownership and control. Consequently, hubs become an effective governance and collaboration tool.

Tradeoffs and Challenges

However, the video also implies tradeoffs that organizations must consider, starting with the fact that any site can belong to only one hub at a time. This single-hub-per-site constraint can complicate design when teams need shared membership across distinct organizational structures. In addition, enforcing hub-wide themes can limit local customization, which some teams may prefer for specific projects or brands. Thus, admins must weigh consistency against local flexibility.

Another challenge involves migrating or modernizing classic sites so they can join a hub, which may require remapping features or redesigning pages. Moreover, approval workflows add governance but introduce administrative steps that slow spontaneous collaboration. The automatic permission sync helps with consistency but can propagate errors if not configured carefully. Therefore, organizations should plan test pilots and clear policies before broad adoption.

Search behavior also requires attention, because search scopes and results can differ across hubs and associated sites, affecting content discoverability. Finally, user adoption depends on communication and training; a technical setup alone will not change how people find or use information. Consequently, teams should invest in change management alongside technical configuration to realize the full value of hubs.

Practical Recommendations for Admins

Start by identifying logical site groupings and pilot a hub with a small set of modern sites to validate navigation and theme choices. Next, define association rules and approval steps so joining a hub becomes a deliberate action rather than an accidental change. Also, test permission sync on non-critical sites to confirm expected behavior before applying it widely. In short, incremental rollout reduces risk and builds confidence.

Additionally, document guidelines for local customization so site owners know which elements they can change without breaking hub consistency. Provide short training and visual examples to ease user adoption, and monitor the hub for navigation conflicts or duplicated content. Finally, review the hub strategy periodically as organizational needs evolve, because business structures and communication priorities change over time. This approach keeps hubs aligned with both governance and user needs.

In summary, the Pragmatic Works video serves as a practical primer that demonstrates how to set up a SharePoint Hub Site with clarity and minimal friction. While hubs bring obvious benefits in navigation and branding, the video responsibly highlights governance tradeoffs and migration considerations that admins must manage. Therefore, the tutorial is a useful starting point for teams planning a modern, organized intranet.