Authoritative SharePoint sites can now be defined in the Microsoft 365 admin center

Microsoft introduced authoritative SharePoint sites in May 2026, a way to surface the most trusted content in an organization. Content from these sites is given extra weight, so it is more likely to appear higher in search results, but only for Copilot Premium users.

Until now, a SharePoint administrator had to configure such sites with SharePoint PowerShell.

Now, admins can also define the sites in Copilot Search in the Microsoft 365 admin center > Copilot > Search > Authoritative content.

• An admin can define up to 100 SharePoint sites as authoritative, focusing on the content that matters most.
• An admin can bulk import or export authoritative sites.
• You must be a Global Administrator to update authoritative sites in the admin center, or a SharePoint Administrator if you do it via PowerShell.
• Existing sites configured via PowerShell are also listed.
• An update to authoritative sites can take up to 72 hours.

Don't forget:
Authoritative content is part of Copilot Search. Copilot Basic users have no access to Copilot Search, so authoritative content is not visible to them in search results. As usual, Microsoft expects all your users to have Copilot licenses.

Authoritative content is not available for Copilot Basic users.