TL;DR
- Designing for people first results in much better Copilot outcomes.
- Clear headings, short sections, good summaries, strong page properties and alt text make content easier for people to read - and easier for Copilot’s semantic index to interpret.
- Over-optimising for AI leads to brittle experiences and bad content.
- Think of Copilot as the colleague who can do brilliant things… but only if you give them clear instructions and clean inputs.
- Modern SharePoint pages + well-structured documents = your AI-enabled intranet power couple
There’s a growing trend in digital workplaces: rewriting content ‘for AI.’
As in, ‘Let’s restructure every page so the machine likes it.
And look - we love AI. We train it, we deploy it, we write about it. But designing your intranet exclusively for AI is like reorganising your entire kitchen so your toaster has a nicer view. Technically possible. Not actually helpful.
The truth is wonderfully simple:
Content that works for people also works best for Copilot.
Because Copilot’s semantic index thrives on clarity, structure and meaning - the very things people need too. If a person can quickly tell what a page is about, so can Copilot.
If a person can’t tell… Copilot won’t magically guess.
Let’s break down why.
Why people-friendly structure = AI-friendly structure
Copilot doesn’t magically “read your mind.”
It reads your content, and how well that content is organised directly affects the quality of its responses.
The Semantic Index for Microsoft 365 maps text, context and relationships across your environment so Copilot can retrieve relevant pieces when generating answers. It is powerful - but it is not psychic.
Think of the Semantic Index as the map that helps Copilot know what relates to what. It’s not just collecting words - it’s connecting ideas.
On top of that, Copilot’s architecture honours Microsoft Graph permissions, relationships and context. If your content is messy, rambling, buried in nested pages, or full of ambiguous sections, Copilot has to work harder than it should.
Think of Copilot less as an omniscient oracle and more as a highly capable, well, co‑pilot: powerful, fast and insightful, but still relying on you for direction, context and judgement.
The anatomy of a people-first, AI-ready SharePoint page
Below is the secret recipe. You already use most of these techniques in good intranet design - now they simply matter even more.
1. Clear headings (H2 + H3)
Humans skim.
AI chunks.
Headings help both audiences understand how a page is structured. Copilot’s semantic index uses these logical breaks to anchor meaning and retrieve relevant sections.
2. Short, purposeful sections
Break content into bite-sized paragraphs.
If your page feels like reading a doctoral thesis in one breath, Copilot won’t parse it cleanly. Neither will Sharon from Finance.
3. A strong summary at the top
This isn’t fluff. It’s context.
A crisp, 2–3 sentence summary helps readers instantly grasp what they’re looking at and helps Copilot understand the intent and scope of the page.
Similar to how you would tell an intern what to look for before sending them into the archive room.
4. Alt text that describes the image
Not “image1.jpg.”
Not “banner.”
Not “staff smiling.”
Good alt text improves accessibility and enhances semantic signals. It’s a win-win.
5. Page properties set correctly
- Topic
- Department
- Keywords
- Audience
- Lifecycle stage (draft/published/archived)
These properties make rollups, filters and search ranking work smoothly - and give Copilot ready-to-use metadata for grounding responses.
6. Avoid overly complex layouts
Yes, flexible sections are great.
No, you don’t need a Russian-doll arrangement of a Russian-doll stack of nested columns inside a hero web part.
If humans struggle to visually follow the page, Copilot will too.
7. Avoid designing for AI
Don’t stuff your page with keywords.
Don’t add “For AI:” blocks.
Don’t write like you're briefing a legal robot overlord.
Avoid the temptation. It backfires.
Why modern pages + documents form your AI content ecosystem
A quick reality check:
Agents and AI engines prefer parsable sources like Word, PowerPoint and PDF over dynamic .aspx Site Pages. Modern SharePoint pages are built from JSON-like components, which can be harder for AI to extract reliably.
So the winning strategy is:
- Write high-quality user-centric pages for navigation, clarity and experience.
- Pair them with clean, final documents for policies, procedures and heavy detail.
People get elegant pages.
Copilot gets stable source-of-truth documents.
Everyone wins.
Practical tips (and friendly reminders)
- Use page templates to ensure consistent structure.
- Don’t bury important content in images - Copilot can’t read your infographic (yet).
- Keep one canonical version of documents rather than five half-updated variants scattered across your site.
- Use metadata over folders - Copilot doesn’t understand “nested folder spaghetti,” but it does understand categorisation.
- Audience targeting is for people, not AI - Copilot follows permissions, not targeting.
- Clean documents matter too - if your source-of-truth PDF is chaotic, Copilot can only do so much.
Author Bio
Rachel Harnott is the kind of modern work leader who can turn a blank page into something brilliant and remind you to drink water, usually in the same sentence.
As Head of Modern Work at WebVine, she helps organisations make their intranets, and their AI, work for real people. With a passion for clear communication and a healthy respect for good metadata (yes, really), Rachel spends her days bringing order to the delightful chaos of SharePoint, Copilot and the modern workplace.
Known for her practical takes and people‑first mindset, she translates complex tech into plain‑English guidance teams can actually use: sensible information architecture, content governance that sticks, and success measured in answers, not page views.
When she’s not refining prompt patterns or untangling SharePoint pages, you’ll find her hunting down the perfect analogy to make change‑resistant colleagues nod along.
Rachel brings curiosity, clarity and just enough humour to make digital transformation feel a little less scary. And a lot more achievable.
FAQs
Do I need to rewrite my entire intranet for AI?
Definitely not. Strengthen structure, metadata and summaries. That alone often delivers huge improvements in Copilot output.
Will designing for people reduce AI accuracy?
No - it improves it. Clear writing is the best “AI optimisation” available.
Do I need to add special “AI sections” to my pages?
Please don’t. If you feel the urge, take a walk, drink some water, and write a better summary instead.
Should I change my writing style to sound more ‘AI friendly’?
No - keep writing for people. Plain, clear, confident language gives Copilot the best possible input. You don’t need robotic phrasing, keyword stuffing, or ‘AI voice’ tricks.
Does Copilot read everything on my page?
Copilot honours permissions and relies on how well content is structured, chunked and indexed. If something is hidden in a web part configuration or buried in complex layout markup, retrieval may vary.
Should I move everything into documents instead of pages?
No - each has a role.
Pages = user experience.
Documents = stable, parsable grounding data.
Use both intentionally.
Is this all just content governance with a new hat on?
More or less. Quality, clarity and structure have always mattered - AI just raises the stakes.
Sources
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftsearch/semantic-index-for-copilot