Google Sites is a website-building platform that enables website creation without coding knowledge.
You can create websites with Google Sites using templates, eliminating the need for HTML expertise. Google Sites is ideal for creating simple websites for a class project, a committee project, or an informational site because of its ease of use and flexibility with themes. Google Sites seamlessly integrates with other Google Workspace applications and makes building sites using content in Drive, Sheets, Docs, etc., simple.
This article covers:
To access Sites, go to the (1) Google Apps menu and select (2) Sites.
Once launched, Sites will prompt you to create a new site or edit an existing one.
If you are part of a group with a Google Shared Drive, in which all members should have access to update a site, you can create a Google Site directly from your Google Shared Drive.
- Go to Drive and select the Shared Drive.
- Optional: Create a new folder within the Shared Drive to store files related to Sites.
- Click New and select Google Sites.
- All members with access to the Shared Drive will be able to edit the Site.
- Even if the folder is restricted, you can update the published Site’s permissions to be public if needed.
- You can add editors to Sites that aren’t part of the Shared Drive.
- If this is in a Shared Google Drive, you can only access the site to edit it from the Shared Drive (i.e., it won’t appear under “My Sites” in individual user’s Sites).
- Add a Title to your site.
- Choose either a Blank site or one of the available templates or themes
3. Choose where the menu navigation appears (top or side).
- Click Navigation (1)
- Choose Top or Side (2)
- Every page you create is added to the top or side Navigation.
- To get a sub-menu/dropdown menu:
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- Create a Page.
- Click + at the bottom, and then choose “New Menu Section.”
- Once you’ve created a Menu Section, it will appear in your site navigation.
- To create a page in that navigation menu, click the menu item and then “Add a subpage.”
- Open a Google Site.
- In the right menu, click Insert.
- At the bottom of the menu, select Drive.
- Choose which drive or click on Search to find a file.
- Choose a file and select Insert.
To add editors or viewers:
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Click the Share icon on the Google Site menu.
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Add Editors or Published viewers using their email addresses.
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You can also set up General Access to the site from this menu.
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Draft access is intended for content review while it is being worked on. Use this feature to enable committee members or instructors to view content in progress. Choose Restricted and then add specific people via email address.
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“Published access” controls who can view your site once it is published.
In the example below, Brenda is the Owner of the site, and Jenny can view and edit the Draft version of the site. Once the site is published, anyone at St. Edward’s University can view the site.
Before publishing your site, click the Preview button to ensure everything is ready.
You’ll need to do two things before publishing your site.
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Create a web address (URL) for your site: All Google Sites will have the domain name “https://sites.google.com/stedwards.edu/.” You can make up any unique name for your site. This might be your name or the name of a committee or class. That unique name will be appended to the default domain name (e.g., https://sites.google.com/stedwards.edu/my-site-name).
- Choose who can view your site: To share your site, decide who should have access and click Manage. Do you want to limit access to a small group of people, make it accessible to anyone with a St. Edward’s account, or make it public to the world? If you choose Restricted access, only people you have added as Viewers or Editors will have access to the site. Once you have selected your preference, click Done.
For questions about specific Google Sites features, check Google's quick reference Help Center or find more in-depth resources in Google's Learning Center.