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How to Customise SharePoint Search: Verticals, Filters, Result Layouts!

    Out-of-the-box SharePoint search is fine—but it’s not fantastic. In this post, I’ll show you how to build a supercharged, user-friendly search experience using SharePoint’s modern tools:

    ✅ Custom search verticals ✅ Metadata-driven filters ✅ Beautiful result layouts ✅ Bonus: A targeted search box on your homepage

    And you don’t even need to be a SharePoint admin to do most of this. Let’s go!

    🔎 The Problem with Default SharePoint Search

    Default search returns everything—and that’s not helpful. Without tweaks, users:

    • Can’t easily refine results

    • Get overwhelmed with irrelevant content

    • Miss the stuff that really matters

    We fix this by tailoring search to our content and site structure.

    🧱 Step 1: Structure Your Content with Metadata

    Set up your content (e.g. project pages or documents) with consistent metadata:

    • Project Status: e.g. Planning, Complete

    • Project Area: e.g. Space, Nuclear Fusion

    • Customer: e.g. A, B, C

    • Page Type: e.g. Project, News, Policy (used to define verticals)

    📌 Use choice columns in your Site Pages library or document libraries.

    🔗 Step 2: Map Columns to Managed Properties

    To use metadata in search, you need to map columns to Refinable Strings:

    1. Go to Site Settings > Search Schema

    2. Under Crawled Properties, search for your column (e.g. ows_ProjectStatus)

    3. Map each one to a RefinableString (e.g. RefinableString100)

    💡 Use RefinableString100–103 for Project Status, Area, Customer, and Page Type.

    ⏳ Wait up to 24 hours for changes to take effect.

    🧭 Step 3: Create Custom Search Verticals

    Now define your own verticals (like “Projects”) that show specific results:

    1. Go to Site Settings > Microsoft Search > Verticals

    2. Click Add Vertical

    3. Set a query: RefinableString103:Project (targets pages tagged as projects)

    4. Add filters:

      • Project Status → RefinableString100

      • Project Area → RefinableString101

      • Customer → RefinableString102

    🎯 Result: A Projects vertical with focused filters!

    🧩 Step 4: Build a Custom Result Layout

    Give your search results a professional look:

    1. Go to Result Types

    2. Click Add and set the rule: RefinableString103 contains 'Project'

    3. Use the Layout Designer (Adaptive Cards)

    4. Map metadata:

      • Title → Title

      • URL → Path

      • Editor → Editor

      • Modified → Modified

      • Description → Description

      • Project Area → RefinableString101

      • Project Status → RefinableString100

    🎨 Optional: Add a custom icon by uploading it to Site Assets and pasting the image URL in the layout.

    📦 Step 5: Add a Search Box to Your Home Page (Optional)

    For next-level UX, embed a search box that targets your vertical:

    1. Install PnP Modern Search Web Parts (admin required)

    2. Add a PnP Search Box to your page

    3. Set target URL to your search page with the vertical

    4. Pass query via q parameter

    Now users can search directly from your homepage and land in the right place!

    ✅ Final Result

    You’ve now created a truly custom SharePoint search experience:

    • A vertical just for your content

    • Metadata filters to narrow results

    • A styled layout that looks great

    • Optional custom search input on your site homepage

    And you did it (mostly) without admin help. 👏

    🎥 Watch the Full Walkthrough

    Every single step—from metadata to verticals to layouts—is demoed in the video. See how it’s done, and follow along to build your own!