Exclude sites from indexing

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 1 minute to read

    • Index sites and subsites selectively by excluding some URLs and subsites, which have confidential information.

    Before you begin

    Specify a list of subsites that you want to exclude from the SharePoint Online Search Connector indexing. Work with a Microsoft SharePoint administrator to understand the set of sites to exclude from indexing.

    Role required: AI search administrator

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to SharePoint Online Search Connector > SharePoint Connectors.
    2. Click New.
    3. Follow the instructions Index sites for search.
    4. Specify the URLs list in the Exclude Subsites field.
      Note:
      Specify the complete URLs and not relative URLs. You can add multiple sites with | as a separator.

    Result

    These URLs are not indexed by the AI Search and are not displayed in the search results.

    What to do next

    Remove Index: Select the indexed site and click Remove Index to remove the site from indexing. On success, all the sites, drivers, and files are removed from the respective tables and the connector is updated to read only with the Deleted status.