Information architecture covers 6 main elements that relate to way finding in [[SharePoint]]: - **Global navigational structure** – Considered the top level of navigation across your SharePoint tenant and how you structure your sites so that users can find content including the [home site](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/home-site) of your intranet. - **Hub structure and organization** – [[SharePoint Hub Sites|Hub sites]] enable you to group together similar topics, tasks, and content. - **Local site and page navigational structure** – How content is organized on each site and page so that users can further navigate or consume content effectively. - **Metadata architecture** – [Metadata](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/managed-metadata) impacts search and browsing structure as well as compliance and retention policies. - **Search experiences** – How your users “consume” information architecture in addition to browsing. - **Personalized content experiences** – How specific content is targeted to certain users and groups of users. > [!Guiding Principle: the world is flat] > In the [[SharePoint|modern SharePoint]] experience, subsites aren't recommended. In the new “flat” world of modern SharePoint, plan to create one site for each discrete topic, task, or unit of work. # Levels of Navigation There are three levels of navigation to think about for [[SharePoint|modern SharePoint]] experiences: ![SharePointLevels](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/sharepointonline/media/levels_of_nav.png) - Global navigation for the entire collection of sites that comprise your intranet - Hub navigation for groups of related sites - Local navigation of an individual site # My Personal Preferred Layout ## Small businesses Contoso (contaso.sharepoint.com) (hub) Finance Team Site (contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/finance) Company Site (contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/company) Executive Team (contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/executive) # Sources [Introduction to SharePoint information architecture - SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/information-architecture-modern-experience)