Use Audience Targeting on a SharePoint Page: Practical Checklist for SharePoint Owners

You want to show different web parts to different people on the same SharePoint page. Without audience targeting, everyone sees the same content. This causes clutter for users who only need specific information. Audience targeting lets you show or hide web parts based on a user’s security group, Microsoft 365 group, or Azure AD property. This article provides a practical checklist for SharePoint owners to set up audience targeting correctly on a page.

How Audience Targeting Works on a SharePoint Page

Audience targeting uses Azure AD group membership or SharePoint security groups to control visibility. When you apply an audience to a web part, only users who belong to that group see the web part. Users not in the audience see nothing — the web part is hidden completely. This feature works on modern SharePoint pages in SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server 2019 and later.

Before you begin, confirm that the site owner has enabled audience targeting at the site level. This setting is off by default. Without it, the Audience Targeting option does not appear in the web part property pane. You also need at least one group — a Microsoft 365 group, a security group, or a SharePoint group — to use as the target audience.

Audience targeting applies only to web parts. It does not affect page navigation, page layout, or the page title. Each web part can have one target audience. If you need to show a web part to multiple groups, create a single group that contains all required members or use dynamic membership rules in Azure AD.

Checklist: Enable Audience Targeting and Apply It to a Page

Follow this checklist in order. Each item must be completed before moving to the next step.

Step 1: Enable Audience Targeting at the Site Level

1. Open site settings
   Go to the SharePoint site. Select the gear icon in the top right corner, then choose Site information. Select View all site settings.
2. Navigate to audience targeting settings
   Under the Site Administration section, select Audience targeting settings. If you do not see this option, your site may be a classic team site or a communication site that requires a different path: go to Site settings > Site collection administration > Audience targeting settings.
3. Turn on audience targeting
   Select the checkbox labeled Enable audience targeting. Select OK. The setting applies to all pages on the site.

Step 2: Create or Identify the Target Group

1. Use an existing group
   You can use any Microsoft 365 group, security group, or SharePoint group. For example, the group named “Sales Team” or “Marketing Managers” works as an audience.
2. Create a new group if needed
   In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Teams & groups > Active teams & groups. Select Add a group. Choose a group type — Security or Microsoft 365 — and follow the wizard. Add members manually or configure dynamic membership rules.
3. Note the group name exactly
   Audience targeting matches the group by display name. Write down the exact group name to avoid typos when you apply the targeting.

Step 3: Add Web Parts to the Page

1. Edit the page
   Navigate to the page you want to target. Select Edit in the top right corner of the page.
2. Add web parts
   Select the plus sign (+) on the page canvas. Choose a web part from the list, such as Text, Image, Quick Links, or Document Library. Add each web part you plan to target.

Step 4: Apply Audience Targeting to a Web Part

1. Open the web part property pane
   Hover over the web part and select the pencil icon (Edit web part) on the left side. The property pane opens on the right side of the screen.
2. Find the Audience Targeting section
   Scroll down in the property pane. Look for the section labeled Audience Targeting. If you do not see this section, audience targeting is not enabled at the site level. Go back to Step 1.
3. Enter the group name
   In the text box under Audience Targeting, type the exact name of the group you identified in Step 2. Select the group from the dropdown suggestions. You can only select one group per web part.
4. Save the page
   Select Publish or Republish in the top right corner. The audience targeting takes effect immediately.

Step 5: Test the Audience Targeting

1. Sign in as a member of the target group
   Open a private browser window or use a different user account that belongs to the group. Navigate to the page. The targeted web part should appear.
2. Sign in as a user not in the target group
   Use a different account that does not belong to the group. Navigate to the page. The targeted web part should be hidden. If you see the web part, check the group membership and the spelling of the group name.

Common Mistakes and Limitations When Using Audience Targeting

I do not see the Audience Targeting option in the web part property pane

The most common cause is that audience targeting is not enabled at the site level. Follow Step 1 in the checklist to enable it. If the option still does not appear, you may be editing a classic page. Audience targeting only works on modern SharePoint pages. Create a new modern page or convert the classic page to a modern page.

Audience targeting works inconsistently across browsers

The audience targeting feature relies on cached group membership data. Changes to group membership can take up to 24 hours to reflect. If a user was recently added or removed from a group, ask them to clear their browser cache or wait one day before testing again.

I need to target a web part to multiple groups

You cannot assign more than one group to a single web part. Instead, create a single group in Azure AD that contains all the members you want to target. Use dynamic group membership rules to combine multiple departments or roles into one group.

Audience targeting does not work for anonymous users

If your site allows sharing links with anyone (anonymous access), audience targeting does not hide web parts from anonymous users. Anonymous users see all web parts regardless of audience settings. For anonymous access scenarios, use page-level permissions instead of audience targeting.

Some web parts do not support audience targeting

Most modern web parts support audience targeting. Exceptions include the Embedded web part and the YouTube web part. If you cannot find the Audience Targeting section in a web part property pane, check Microsoft’s documentation for that specific web part.

Audience Targeting vs Page Permissions: When to Use Each

Item	Audience Targeting	Page Permissions
What it controls	Visibility of individual web parts on a page	Access to the entire page or site
User experience	Hidden web parts are invisible; page loads normally	Users get an access denied error or cannot open the page at all
Setup location	Web part property pane in edit mode	Page settings > Permissions or site permissions
Group requirement	One group per web part	One or more groups or individual users
Best use case	Showing role-specific content on a shared page	Restricting sensitive pages to a small set of users

You can now apply audience targeting to any modern SharePoint page. Start by enabling the feature at the site level, then assign a group to each web part you want to filter. Test with both a member and a non-member account to confirm the behavior. For advanced scenarios, consider using Azure AD dynamic groups to automatically include users based on job title or department. This keeps your audience lists current without manual updates.