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SharePoint search and crawl architecture

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SharePoint search and crawl architecture

How SharePoint indexes content, what affects search quality, and how to influence ranking.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-search-and-crawl

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01

What gets indexed

The SharePoint search index covers:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-search-and-crawl

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02

Crawl behaviour

SharePoint Online's search is continuous crawl — content is indexed as it changes, typically within minutes for most changes. No admin crawl schedules to configure. Specific events that trigger indexing:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-search-and-crawl

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03

Why search results are sometimes stale

When users report "I uploaded this file yesterday and search can't find it," common causes:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-search-and-crawl

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04

Ranking signals

Search results are ranked by:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-search-and-crawl

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05

Influencing search quality

Admin actions that improve search results:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-search-and-crawl

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06

Operational considerations

For Microsoft 365 customers with significant content volume, deliberate search administration is one of the higher-leverage admin investments. The search box gets used many times a day across the tenant; small improveme…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-search-and-crawl

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