SPO: Hub site URL naming convention

[kenneho]

Hi.

I'm curious how other organizations have managed their hub site URLs - does the URL for your hub sites indicate that it's in fact a hub site, for example "/sites/<function-hub"? How do you handle cases where you need to convert a com.site to a hub, or vice versa - do you rename the URLs as well? 

[#2]

For one customer, we have followed the convention of using HUB word to name a HUB a "-" and then a Hub Name that clearly identifies its purpose. For instance sites/HUB-HR. Once the Hub is created and configure, the sites joined to the Hub follows also a naming convention in the way of /sites/<HUB Name>-<Site Name>. For instance, for site joined to the HR HUB: /sites/HR-OnBoarding

[#3]

@kenneho I would not recommend using a naming standard for hubs or hub membership in the URL. Instead, use the Site Title to accomplish this. Hubs are designed to be flexible and change as your business needs change. If you keep changing URLs, you will have a web of re-directs. Most users will see the Site Title before they see the URL (and when you make a navigation link, you always want a relevant, user friendly label - rarely the URL). I would consider a hub site title naming convention first, for example, HR Hub or HR Center (or Centre). 

[#4]

@Juan Carlos González Martín and @Susan Hanley , thanks for your input.

@Susan Hanley , if I understand you correctly, there is nothing in URL for your hub sites that indicates that it's a hub sites? In other words, both hub sites and regular com.sites follow the same naming convention? (This is what I'm leaning towards, as I find that to be a more flexible solution for changes in business needs - if some time in the future we find that a regular site could benefit from being converted to a hub site, I'd like to do so without having to rename the URL and incoming links as well. )

[#5]

@Susan Hanley and @Juan Carlos González Martín , thanks for your input. 

@Susan Hanley , if I understand you correctly, your URLs doesn't say anything about whether a site is a regular com.site or if it's a hub site, correct, making you able to transition between the two without breaking incoming links? 

[#6]

Correct. You can easily change the a Title of a site. While you can also rename the URL, there are implications to consider when you do so. Search can find sites using the Title and you can easily change the label for a link in navigation. There may be some obvious hubs like HR, but others will evolve. I think you will have more flexibility to grow and evolve your intranet architecture if you focus your Intranet URL names on function or topic and not how you will ultimately organize them in your architecture. It is a god idea to publish your URL naming conventions broadly.