SharePoint implementations tend to go one of two ways. Some organizations build thoughtful foundations and find SharePoint becomes genuinely useful—a place where employees find what they need, collaborate effectively, and manage documents without chaos. Others let SharePoint grow organically and end up with a sprawling mess that frustrates users and creates more problems than it solves.
The difference usually isn’t technical skill or budget. It’s whether someone applied basic best practices early and maintained discipline as the environment grew.
This guide covers the SharePoint best practices that matter most—the decisions and habits that separate useful implementations from cluttered disasters.
Site Architecture Best Practices
How you structure SharePoint sites determines whether the environment stays manageable or becomes chaotic.
Use hub sites to create logical groupings. Hub sites associate related sites without forcing rigid hierarchies. A department hub can connect team sites, project sites, and resource sites while maintaining shared navigation and search. This creates organization without the inflexibility of nested site collections.
Create sites for distinct purposes. Each site should have a clear reason to exist—a team, a project, a function. Avoid creating sites “just in case” or dumping unrelated content into catch-all sites.
Keep site hierarchy shallow. Deep nesting creates navigation problems and confuses users. Most organizations do well with two or three levels: hub sites containing team or project sites.
Establish naming conventions. Consistent naming helps users find sites and helps administrators manage them. Define conventions for site names, URLs, and descriptions before proliferation makes standardization painful.
Plan for site lifecycle. Projects end. Teams reorganize. Sites created for temporary purposes should have owners and review dates. Archive or delete sites that no longer serve active purposes rather than letting them clutter the environment.
Document Library Organization
Document libraries are where most SharePoint value lives—or where most frustration originates.
Favor metadata over folders. Folders create rigid structures that break when needs change. Metadata (columns) allows flexible organization—filter and group documents by project, document type, status, or any attribute without duplicating files or creating nested folder mazes.
When using folders, keep them shallow. If folders make sense for your use case, limit depth. Two or three levels maximum. Deep folder structures hide content and make navigation tedious.
Create purposeful libraries. Don’t dump everything into a single library. Create libraries for distinct content types—policies, templates, project deliverables, reference materials. Each library can have appropriate metadata, views, and permissions.
Configure meaningful views. Default views should show what users need most often. Create additional views for specific needs—documents by status, by author, by date. Good views reduce reliance on search for everyday tasks.
Set up content types for recurring document patterns. If you have standard document categories with consistent metadata needs, content types ensure consistency and reduce manual entry. A “Policy Document” content type can include standard columns, templates, and retention settings.
Metadata and Taxonomy
Metadata transforms SharePoint from a file dump into a structured information system.
Define metadata before migration or heavy use. Adding metadata to existing content is tedious. Establishing metadata structures upfront saves significant effort.
Use managed metadata for enterprise terms. The term store provides consistent vocabulary across sites. Departments, project types, document categories—anything used across the organization benefits from managed metadata rather than inconsistent free text.
Keep metadata practical. Don’t create elaborate taxonomies that nobody will use. Required fields that add friction without value get bypassed or filled with garbage. Focus on metadata that genuinely helps users find and organize content.
Make metadata entry easy. Use dropdowns instead of free text where possible. Set default values for common scenarios. The easier metadata entry is, the more consistently it gets used.
Naming Conventions
Consistent naming brings order to SharePoint environments.
Establish site naming patterns. Define how site names should be structured—perhaps department abbreviation followed by purpose, or project code followed by name. Document the convention and enforce it during site creation.
Create document naming guidelines. File names should be meaningful and consistent. Include relevant identifiers—project codes, dates, version indicators—in predictable formats. “Q3-2025-Sales-Report-Final.docx” beats “report final FINAL v2.docx.”
Avoid problematic characters. Some characters cause problems in SharePoint URLs and synchronization. Avoid #, %, &, and other special characters in site names, library names, and file names.
Keep names reasonably short. SharePoint has URL length limits. Very long site names, library names, and file names can create path length problems, especially with nested structures.
Permission Management
Permissions done poorly create security risks or user frustration—often both.
Use groups, not individuals. Assign permissions to SharePoint groups or Microsoft 365 groups, then manage group membership. Avoid assigning permissions directly to individual users.
Leverage default permission levels. Owners, Members, and Visitors cover most needs. Custom permission levels add complexity and are rarely necessary.
Minimize broken inheritance. When every library, folder, and file has unique permissions, the environment becomes unmanageable. Structure content so items with different permission needs live in different sites or libraries rather than relying on item-level permissions.
Document permission decisions. When you do break inheritance or create custom permission structures, document why. Future administrators (or future you) will need context.
Audit permissions regularly. Permissions drift as people change roles and leave organizations. Periodic reviews catch inappropriate access before it causes problems.
Search Optimization
Good search transforms SharePoint usability. Poor search makes everything harder.
Ensure content is searchable. Check that important libraries and content types are included in search. Verify that search crawls are completing successfully.
Use metadata to improve search results. Searchable metadata helps users find content. Managed metadata improves search refiners, letting users filter results by meaningful categories.
Create search verticals for common needs. Custom search scopes can focus on specific content types or locations. A “Policies” search vertical that only searches policy libraries helps users find what they need faster.
Promote important content. Query rules can boost specific results for common queries. If everyone searching “expense policy” should find the same document, promote it.
Monitor search analytics. SharePoint tracks what users search for and whether they find results. Zero-result queries and abandoned searches reveal content gaps or discovery problems.
Governance Framework
Governance keeps SharePoint useful as it grows.
Assign ownership. Every site needs an owner responsible for content currency, access management, and adherence to standards. Ownerless sites decay.
Establish content review cycles. Content becomes outdated. Require periodic reviews—annually at minimum—to verify accuracy and relevance. Automate reminders where possible.
Define site creation policies. Who can create sites? What approval is required? What information must be provided? Uncontrolled site creation leads to sprawl.
Set retention policies. Not everything needs to live forever. Define retention periods for different content types and automate cleanup where appropriate.
Create and communicate standards. Document best practices and standards in an accessible location. Make guidelines available when people create sites and upload content.
For more detailed governance guidance, see our SharePoint governance article (Article 21 in this series).
User Adoption Strategies
The best-structured SharePoint environment fails if nobody uses it.
Make SharePoint the path of least resistance. If finding documents in SharePoint is harder than emailing around or searching shared drives, users will take the easier path. Reduce friction wherever possible.
Train for real tasks, not features. Teach users to accomplish their actual work—finding policies, submitting documents, collaborating on projects—not abstract platform features.
Surface SharePoint where people already work. Teams integration, Outlook connections, and browser bookmarks bring SharePoint into daily workflows rather than requiring users to remember to visit.
Start with high-value use cases. Launch with content people genuinely need. A policy library, a project hub, or a resource center that solves real problems builds credibility for broader use.
Gather and act on feedback. Users encounter problems that administrators don’t see. Create channels for feedback and demonstrate responsiveness by addressing legitimate concerns.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Migrating without cleanup. Moving messy file shares into SharePoint just creates messy SharePoint. Clean up, organize, and archive before migration.
Over-engineering from the start. You don’t need complex metadata schemas, elaborate permission structures, and custom solutions on day one. Start simple and add complexity when actual needs emerge.
Ignoring mobile users. SharePoint works on mobile devices, but experiences vary. Test important content and functionality on phones and tablets.
Treating launch as the finish line. SharePoint requires ongoing attention. Budget resources for maintenance, improvement, and governance after initial implementation.
Expecting technology to solve people problems. SharePoint can’t fix unclear processes, organizational silos, or cultural resistance to sharing. Address underlying issues alongside technical implementation.
Building on Best Practices
These practices provide foundations, but every organization has unique needs. The principles matter more than specific implementations—think about structure before building, maintain discipline as you grow, and prioritize user experience over administrative convenience.
For organizations using SharePoint as an intranet foundation, combining these practices with modern intranet best practices creates environments that genuinely serve employees rather than frustrating them.
Need help implementing SharePoint best practices in your environment? Let’s discuss how to build a foundation that scales.