Quick Summary

Learn five practical tips to make your SharePoint documents more discoverable in search results, helping your content rank higher than your colleagues' documents.

Five tips to improve the findability of your documents in SharePoint Search Results

1. Create Descriptive and Catchy Titles
   Make the title of your document as descriptive and catchy as possible. The title is typically weighted highest when a user scans their search results page. The more someone clicks on your document, the higher the search engine will rank your document the next time someone searches on those keywords.

2. Target Humans While Including Keywords
   Target a human audience with your title, but add as many (natural) keywords as you can for the search engine. This balance ensures your content is both discoverable and engaging.

3. Use Header Styles in Word Documents
   Include Header Styles (H1, H2, H3, H4 etc) in the content of your word documents. Keywords located in headers are ranked higher than keywords in Paragraphs, so include keyword rich content in each of your headings.

4. Add Description Tabs to Excel Files
   For Excel files add a tab called "Description" and write a human readable description for your spreadsheet. Not many people include key words in excel files, so a descriptive paragraph will provide your search engine with keyword gold!

5. Complete All Metadata Fields
   Fill in all of your Metadata categories every time you upload a document. Make sure you complete every metadata field on the Edit Properties page, whether it is compulsory or not! If you fill in this field and your co-worker doesn't then there is a good chance you will rank higher on the search results page.

Pro Tip

Consistency is key! Apply these tips to all your documents to build a strong search presence across your SharePoint environment. Your colleagues will wonder how you always appear at the top of search results!