Configure authoritative Web pages (SharePoint Server 2010)

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Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

Summary: Improve search results by configuring relevance ranking. Learn how to specify authoritative and non-authoritative URLs and sites.

An administrator of a Search service application can designate a Web page as most authoritative, second-level authoritative, third-level authoritative, or non-authoritative. This setting affects relevance rankings for search results. Therefore, it affects the order in which search results appear in a search results list.

The relevance ranking for a search result is determined in part by how far (in clicks) the result is from a URL that is designated as most authoritative, second-level authoritative, or third-level authoritative. A most-authoritative page contains or links to the most relevant information. A second-level authoritative page receives a penalty click of one. A third-level authoritative URL receives a penalty click of two. URLs designated as non-authoritative are ranked lower than other sites.

Specify Web pages as authoritative

Use the following procedure to specify Web pages as authoritative or non-authoritative.

To specify Web pages as authoritative

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is an administrator for the Search service application for which you want to configure authoritative Web pages.

  2. On the Central Administration Web site, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  3. Click the Search service application for which you want to configure authoritative Web pages.

  4. On the Search Administration page, in the Quick Launch, click Authoritative Pages.

  5. On the Specify Authoritative Pages page, in the Most authoritative pages box in the Authoritative Web Pages section, type the URLs of pages that are most authoritative. Separate the URLs by returns so that there is one URL per line.

  6. In the Second-level authoritative pages box, type the URLs of pages that are secondary.

  7. In the Third-level authoritative pages box, type the URLs of pages that are tertiary.

  8. In the Non-authoritative Sites section, in the Sites to demote box, type the URLs of sites that you want to be ranked lower than all other sites, such as URLs of sites that contain outdated information but are retained for record-keeping). A URL whose prefix matches the prefix of a URL in the Sites to demote box is ranked lower than all other sites.

  9. If you want re-calculation of ranking to begin after you click OK, select the Refresh now check box in the Refresh Now? section. If the check box is cleared, ranking re-calculation occurs later, according to a predetermined schedule.

  10. Click OK.