When building a modern intranet or digital workplace in SharePoint, two concepts often come up: Audience Targeting and Security. While they may seem similar at first glance, they serve very different purposes. Understanding these differences is critical for creating an effective and secure information architecture.
Resources:
- Target content to a specific audience on a SharePoint site - Microsoft Support
- Target navigation, news, files, links, and web parts to specific audiences - Microsoft Support
- Target content in Viva Connections to specific audiences | Microsoft Learn
- Customize permissions for a SharePoint list or library - Microsoft Support
- Manage Permission Scopes in SharePoint - SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn
- Sharing & permissions in the SharePoint modern experience - SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn
What is Audience Targeting in SharePoint?
Audience Targeting is a feature in SharePoint that allows you to personalize the user experience by showing content to specific groups of people based on attributes such as role, department, or geography. It does not restrict access to content; rather, it filters what users see to make their experience more relevant.
Benefits of Audience Targeting:
- Reduces information overload by showing users only the most relevant content.
- Improves engagement by tailoring navigation and content to user roles or regions.
- Enhances usability without adding complexity to security management.
Where Can Audience Targeting Be Applied?
- SharePoint Navigational Links – Show different navigation menus to different audiences.
- SharePoint Pages – Display specific pages to targeted groups.
- SharePoint News Web Part – Deliver news articles relevant to a user’s department or location.
- SharePoint Highlighted Content Web Part – Surface documents or pages based on audience criteria.
- SharePoint Quick Links Web Part – Provide shortcuts that matter most to a specific audience.
- SharePoint Events Web Part – Promote events relevant to a user’s region or team.
- Viva Connections Dashboard – Personalize dashboard cards for different roles or geographies.
How to Enable Audience Targeting
Here are the steps for enabling Audience Targeting in key areas:
- Navigation Links:
- Go to Site Settings > Navigation.
- Enable Audience Targeting for the navigation menu.
- Edit each link and assign an audience group (Microsoft 365 Group, Security Group, or Azure AD Dynamic Group).
- SharePoint Pages:
- Navigate to the page library.
- Select the page, click Details Pane, and set the audience under Audience Targeting.
- News Web Part:
- Edit the page containing the News web part.
- In the web part settings, turn on Enable Audience Targeting.
- Assign audiences to individual news posts.
- Highlighted Content Web Part:
- Edit the web part.
- Enable Audience Targeting in the settings.
- Assign audiences to the content you want filtered.
- Quick Links Web Part:
- Edit the Quick Links web part.
- Enable Audience Targeting.
- Assign audiences to each link.
- Events Web Part:
- Edit the Events web part.
- Enable Audience Targeting.
- Assign audiences to each event.
- Viva Connections Dashboard:
- In the Dashboard settings, enable Audience Targeting.
- Assign audiences to individual dashboard cards.
What Audience Targeting is NOT: Security
It’s important to emphasize that Audience Targeting does not secure content. If a user has permission to access a page, document, or library, they can still access it—even if it’s not targeted to them. Audience Targeting only controls visibility in navigation and web parts; it does not enforce access restrictions.
What is SharePoint Security?
SharePoint Security determines who can access what content. It is enforced through permissions at various levels:
- Site Level – Controls access to entire sites.
- Document Library or List Level – Restricts access to specific libraries or lists.
- Folder Level – Applies permissions to folders within a library.
- File or Item Level – Grants or denies access to individual documents or list items.
Proper security ensures that sensitive information is only accessible to authorized users. Unlike Audience Targeting, security settings are mandatory for compliance and data protection.
Why Security Should Drive Information Architecture
When designing your SharePoint environment, content security should be a primary consideration. Your information architecture should:
- Group content based on similar security requirements.
- Avoid excessive item-level permissions, which can complicate management.
- Use Audience Targeting as a secondary layer to enhance user experience, not as a substitute for security.
Key Takeaways
- Audience Targeting = Personalization (filters what users see).
- Security = Protection (controls what users can access).
- Use Audience Targeting to improve relevance and reduce clutter.
- Always configure proper security at the site, library, folder, or file level to protect sensitive data.
By combining strong security practices with smart audience targeting, you can create a SharePoint environment that is both secure and user-friendly.
Microsoft