A SharePoint Online intranet with dozens of sites and no consistent navigation between them feels less like one organization and more like a collection of loosely related folders. Global navigation solves this by giving people the same top level menu no matter which associated site they land on, so getting from the HR site to the IT site to a project team site does not require knowing the exact address of each one in advance.
What global navigation actually controls
Global navigation is the menu configured on your organization's SharePoint home site. Once a site is set up to follow the home site's navigation, either directly or by being associated with a hub that itself follows the home site, that same top level menu appears consistently on every one of those sites. The result is that someone can move between completely different sites and always have the same set of primary links available, rather than a menu that resets to something different, or disappears entirely, every time they navigate somewhere new.
This is different from a site's own local navigation, which is specific to that individual site and usually reflects the content and pages that live there. A well built intranet typically uses both together: global navigation for the handful of organization wide destinations everyone needs, like the intranet home, HR resources, and IT support, and local navigation for whatever is specific to the site someone happens to be on.
Setting up global navigation
Global navigation is configured from your organization's home site in the SharePoint admin center. Under Active sites, select the home site, and from there you can edit the navigation to add, remove, and reorder links, including mega menu style layouts with grouped sub links for organizations with more destinations than fit cleanly in a flat top level menu. Changes here apply across every site that follows the home site's navigation, so a single update reaches the whole organization without needing to touch each site individually.
Whether an individual site actually displays this global navigation depends on its own navigation settings, found under site settings for that site. A site can be configured to show global navigation, its own local navigation, or both together, and this is usually where inconsistent looking intranets go wrong, some sites are set up correctly and others were created before the standard was established and never updated.
Where hub navigation fits in
For larger organizations with distinct departments or divisions, hub sites add a middle layer between global navigation and a single site's local menu. A hub site can have its own navigation that applies only to the sites associated with that hub, letting a division keep a consistent, department specific menu without needing it to appear across the entire organization. A well planned intranet often layers all three: global navigation at the very top for organization wide destinations, hub navigation for department level structure, and local navigation for what is unique to an individual site.
Common mistakes worth avoiding
- Too many top level items. A menu with fifteen top level links is not more useful than one with six, it is just harder to scan. Group related destinations under a single item with sub links instead.
- Inconsistent site setup. Sites created before a navigation standard existed often were never updated to follow it, which is exactly what produces the patchwork feeling of some sites having the right menu and others not.
- No clear owner. Navigation drifts out of date quickly without someone responsible for reviewing it periodically as new sites and services get added across the organization.
How Regroove helps
Navigation is one small but very visible piece of a much larger question, whether your SharePoint Online environment is actually organized well or has grown organically without a plan. Our Microsoft 365 and Modern Work services include SharePoint information architecture, hub site design, and the governance that keeps an intranet consistent as it grows instead of turning into a maze.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between global navigation and hub navigation in SharePoint Online?
Global navigation lives on the SharePoint home site and can appear across every site in your tenant once a site is associated with the home site or its hub. Hub navigation is scoped to a specific hub site and the sites directly associated with it. Many organizations only need one of the two, and using both without a plan tends to create confusing, duplicated menus.
Do all SharePoint sites automatically get global navigation?
No. A site only shows global navigation if it is set up to follow the home site, either directly or through hub association, and if the organization has enabled that setting in the SharePoint admin center. Sites outside that structure keep their own independent navigation.
Can different departments have different navigation menus?
Yes, through hub sites. Each hub can have its own navigation that applies to the sites associated with it, which lets a department or division keep a consistent menu specific to their content, separate from the organization wide global navigation shown everywhere else.
How many items should be in a global navigation menu?
Five to seven top level items is a reasonable target for most organizations. Beyond that, people struggle to scan the menu quickly, and it usually means some items belong as sub links under a broader category instead of sitting at the top level on their own.
If your SharePoint sites all feel disconnected from each other, get in touch and we will help you design navigation that actually holds together.