Most SharePoint homepages fail in the first five seconds, not because they are ugly or missing a web part, but because they answer the wrong question.

Users do not come to a SharePoint homepage to admire it. They arrive because they are trying to do something. Find a document. Get to a tool. Understand where work lives. Confirm they are in the right place. When a homepage does not help with that immediately, users stop trusting it.

I have seen homepages packed with news, events, hero images, welcome text, and corporate messaging, all carefully designed and proudly launched, and then quietly ignored. The problem is not effort. The problem is intent.

Most homepages are designed as broadcasts rather than entry points. They focus on what the organization wants to say instead of helping users get where they need to go. Microsoft’s guidance on planning navigation in modern SharePoint is clear that pages should prioritize wayfinding and task completion, not announcements.

A homepage should reduce cognitive load. Instead, many increase it. Large banners push useful content down the page, multiple sections compete for attention, and important links are buried under announcements that lose relevance after the first week. The result is a page that looks busy but feels empty.

This is where SharePoint’s flexibility becomes a liability. Because you can add almost anything, people do. The homepage slowly turns into a dumping ground for content that did not have a better home.

What often gets overlooked is that a SharePoint site is not a single page. It is a collection of pages. The homepage exists to orient users, not to carry every update, resource, and message. Secondary content belongs on subpages, where it can be organized, linked, and maintained without overwhelming the entry point.

Navigation is supposed to do that work, but it is frequently underutilized. Mega menus, hub navigation, and site navigation are often treated as afterthoughts instead of core design tools. When navigation is shallow or unclear, teams compensate by adding more content to the homepage instead of fixing the underlying structure.

Users notice this quickly. They learn that scrolling rarely helps, so they stop scrolling. Then they stop clicking. Eventually, they bypass the homepage entirely and go straight to Teams, search, or a bookmarked library, which is why Microsoft positions search as a primary navigation mechanism across Microsoft 365.

At that point, the homepage is no longer a landing page. It is decoration.

The most effective SharePoint homepages I have seen are intentionally boring. They rely on clear navigation, obvious next steps, and links that actually go somewhere useful. Content above the fold is minimal and focused on helping users orient themselves. This approach aligns closely with Microsoft’s recommendations for information architecture in modern SharePoint.

This is also where recent improvements to pages really matter. Features like flexible sections changed what SharePoint pages can do out of the box. Pages are no longer rigid layouts that force compromise. They can adapt to content instead of fighting it.

The irony is that with more flexibility than ever, many homepages have become less focused, not more. Flexibility should enable clarity, not excuse clutter.

Homepages also age poorly when ownership is unclear. News goes stale. Links break. Sections stop making sense. Without regular care, a homepage becomes a snapshot of decisions that no longer reflect reality. Microsoft indirectly addresses this by emphasizing page ownership and lifecycle as part of the Microsoft Adoption framework, even if it is often treated as optional.

Once users lose trust in a homepage, it is very hard to earn it back.

The irony is that SharePoint gives us all the tools to build good homepages. Pages, navigation, audience targeting, and even Copilot are not the problem. The problem is treating the homepage like a billboard instead of a doorway.

If your homepage requires a scroll to be useful, it is already asking too much.

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This post is part of my 25 days of SharePoint series, created to celebrate SharePoint’s 25th anniversary and lead up to the SharePoint at 25 digital event on March 2.

Each post reflects on what actually made SharePoint last 25 years, the wins, the mistakes, and the lessons learned from building, breaking, and rebuilding it in real organizations.

You can find all posts in this series here.

If there’s a topic you think I should cover next, a SharePoint mistake you keep seeing, or a question no one ever answers straight, leave a comment. This series is shaped by real experiences, not marketing slides.