---
title: "Building Micro-sites in Drupal using the Groups Module"
description: "Creating micro-sites is a great marketing strategy that can showcase your brand entities in a different light. How can you create micro-sites in Drupal? Read on to learn more about the using the Group module in Drupal 8 (and 9)."
url: https://www.specbee.com/blogs/building-micro-sites-in-drupal-using-groups-module
type: Article
author: "Maithri Shetty"
categories: "Drupal Talk"
published: 2021-03-23
updated: 2026-10-06
---

# Building Micro-sites in Drupal using the Groups Module

There maybe times when you do not want certain pages of your website to look like the rest. You might want a different theme, a unique menu or a distinct layout altogether. That’s when you will want to create Micro-sites. Micro-sites are small sites that can be subsets of your main site or have a completely different domain/subdomain. Mainly used for discrete [marketing campaigns](https://www.specbee.com/blogs/drupal-modules-for-marketing-automation), events or products, micro-site marketing is a great tool to promote focused campaigns.

With Drupal 8 (and 9) you can build micro-sites within your existing setup using the Group module. You can have a separate set of users, permissions, and pages within that setup. Let’s learn more about this amazing module and how you can create micro-sites using the Group module.

## Creating micro-sites using the Group module for Drupal

The latest version of the Group module was released in Drupal 8.8 and is compatible with Drupal 9 as well. It enables you to build discrete collections of content and users on your Drupal site. You can also setup access control for these collections. Group module is not only useful to create micro-sites but can be used whenever a site needs to create content that needs to be accessed only by certain user groups.

## Installing the Group Module

Follow the below steps to install the Group module for Drupal 8 (or 9).

**Step 1:** Use this command to install the module

```plaintext
composer require 'drupal/group’
```

**Step 2:** Enable the Group and Group Node module

## Working with the module

Once the module is installed you will see Groups in the administrative menu.

![groups](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/groups.png)Under Groups, you need to create a Group type for your micro-sites. Group types are basically types of divisions for your website. In our case the group-type is a Micro-site.

![add group type](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/add-group-type.png)After adding the group type you can add fields to your micro-site. You will see 3 extra tabs in this group type - Content, Roles, Permissions.

![add field](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/add-field.png)In the same above image, you can see a content tab where you can add content types to your micro-site (these are content types that we have created in our main site).

![configure contents](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/configure-contents.png)Now, you can also create separate roles for the micro-sites.

![group roles](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/group-roles.png)After adding a separate role to the micro-site, you can add permissions to that particular role by clicking on Edit permissions. You can set the permissions as per your requirement.

![group role permissions](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/group-role-permissions.png)Next, you have a permission tab where you can add permissions to anonymous users and other micro site members. After configuring your group type, you can now add the group to that particular group type.

![group type permissions](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/group-type-permissions.png)Now while editing your group you will see many other tabs apart from View, Edit and Delete.

![edit micro sites](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/edit-micro-sites.png)Now, go to the Members tab where you can add members to the group. These are the members who can perform actions on this particular group. (Note: by default, admin will be a member of the group. You can disable this functionality in the group type configuration.)

![micro site member](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/micro-site-member.png)Go to the Nodes tab to add content to the group.

![micro site nodes](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/micro-site-nodes.png)**All entities:** This lists all the nodes and users in that particular group.

![micro site entities](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/micro-site-entities.png)## Adding menus to Micro-sites

Install **Group Content Menu** using this command then enable the module.

```plaintext
composer require 'drupal/group_content_menu'
```

After installing this module, you will see Group Content Menu types under Structure. Create a group content menu type for your micro site.

![group menu type](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/group-menu-type.png)Place this menu type in the block layout where you want to display it.

![custom block](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/custom-block.png)Configure the block to display in the micro site.

![configure block](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/configure-block.png)Now in the group type content tab you will get the Group menu. Install that to display menus in your micro-site.

![group menu](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/group-menu.png)Now you should be able to see group menu in your groups.

![group menu in groups](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/group-menus-in-groups.png)In group menu you need to create a name for the Menu set.

![site menu](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/site-menu.png)After adding the menu set, you can now add menus.

![add link](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/add-link.png)![edit micro](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/micro.png)Now clear your cache and check the group. The menu will be displayed wherever you have placed it in your block layout.

![micro site description](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/micro-site-description.png)Creating micro-sites is a great way to build separate identities for your brand. It is an effective [marketing strategy](https://www.specbee.com/blogs/content-marketing-made-easy-drupal-cms) that is being leveraged by all kinds of businesses today. Drupal offers a fantastic module to help businesses build micro-sites efficiently - the Group module. Learn more about how our [Drupal experts](https://www.specbee.com/services/drupal-web-development) can help you leverage the best features of Drupal for your next project.