A site is a website that can be used to share information with others. To get started, know what ArcGIS Hub license you're using. If you're using ArcGIS Hub Basic (included with every subscription to ArcGIS Online), you can create unlimited sites, add content, and share your work with private and public audiences.
Note:
If you have ArcGIS Hub Premium, the ability to create sites is included in the initiative workflow because every new initiative includes a site by default. To get started, see Initiative basics.
What can I do with a site?
Every site includes a layout, configuration options, and a set of drag-and-drop cards so that you can share content in the following ways, with no HTML required:
- Content integration—Display a variety of content types, including content you've already created using other ArcGIS products, along with your own graphics, media, and narratives.
- Search experience—Create a search experience that enables visitors to discover content, including data, apps, maps, and other items, by entering a key word or phrase on your site's search bar.
- Configurable branding options—Brand your sites with your organization's logo, theme, social media, and custom domain.
- Global navigation and site mapping—Build your own site navigation using pages and menu links. This mobile-responsive navigation bar helps people to explore your content on any device.
- Built-in analytics—Every site and initiative includes a dashboard so that you can track how many people are engaging with your content over time. Key metrics on content and account creation are also available on your hub's Overview, providing you with quick insight on your hub's activity.
Who can create sites?
To create and share a site, an ArcGIS Online administrator can configure your ArcGIS Online account with a custom role based on the Publisher role and the following administrative privileges:
- The Create with update capabilities (Groups) privilege allows you to create a core team. The update capability means that anyone who's a member of the group (core team members) can update any item shared to the group.
Note:
Without the Create with update capabilities privilege, you’ll need to have an administrator activate your site’s core team if you want to collaborate with other members of your ArcGIS Online organization. - The Assign members (Groups) privilege allows you to add members directly to the core team without sending an invitation to their email. This privilege is recommended because it enables you to immediately share content with new members. The next time that they sign in to ArcGIS Hub, they can read their notifications to know which team they've been added to and see any items that have been shared with the group.
Default site item and groups
Every site you create is added to your organization's subscription to ArcGIS Online as a Site-name Hub Site Application item with two default groups. These groups enable you to control what content is shared on your site and with whom. They also enable you to control who can edit your site's content. For more information, see Adjust sharing controls.
| Group | Items shared to this group |
|---|---|
A Site-name Content ArcGIS Online group | This group manages the items (content) that you want to share on a site. When you and your site's core team members add items to the content library, they are sharing items with this group. Because this is a view-only group, only the item's owner can edit them. |
A Site-name Core Team ArcGIS Online group | This group manages the items (content) that you want site core team members to edit. The site is automatically shared to this group, so that core team members can make edits. You can select additional items you want to share with this group using the item's sharing controls. |
To view your site's item and groups in ArcGIS Online, open a site in edit mode and click the More Actions button 
and choose Edit in ArcGIS Online.
Get started
To generate a new site, follow steps to create a new site. Then, you can open your site in edit mode to do the following:
- Add content to a site
- Add people to a site's core team
- Choose colors to define a theme for a site's header, links, and button text
- Configure site settings and capabilities
- Add pages
- Change the visibility of a site
For more information, see A quick start guide for ArcGIS Hub Basic.