Webshrinker Simplified Categories

Webshrinker offers a simplified website categorization taxonomy, which includes 42 easy-to-filter categories that cover all categorized websites. They include categories for commonly accessed sites such as news and social media, and for potentially malicious or inappropriate sites such as drugs, weapons, hate, and threats.

The Benefits of a Simplified Site Categorization Taxonomy

Some companies don’t need the complete list of IAB categories because they need less granularity than advertisers or AdTech platforms that use the IAB. Our simplified categorization has 42 categories, and is broader compared to other custom categorization taxonomies. For many of our customers, they don’t need to know if someone is viewing a tennis or football website—they just need to know they’re looking at sports. Having a simplified list also significantly reduces the amount of noise in your data.
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Webshrinker Simplified Domain Categorization Categories

Abortion

Sites which provide views either in favor or against abortion, provide details on procedures, offer help or discuss outcomes or consequences of abortion.

Adult Content

Sites which may contain sexually explicit content, images, or that are portrayed through visually expressive language.

Advertising

Sites or businesses which directly sell ads to consumers through various mediums, including Internet, TV, or radio.

Alcohol and Tobacco

Sites that sell, discuss or glorify the consumption of various alcoholic and tobacco products, including beer, wine, and liquor.

Blogs and Personal Sites

Includes sites that make use of common blogging software including WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal, amongst others, which generate dynamic content. Normally used as a secondary category to a more descriptive primary category.

Business

Sites which exhibit business-like attributes such as selling of services, products, or consulting. Normally used as a secondary category to a more descriptive primary category.

Chat and Instant Messaging

Sites which provide chat or text messaging services or such abilities through a download or application.

Content Servers

Sites whose main purpose is to serve static images, CSS and JavaScript files.

Dating and Personals

Sites whose main focus is on connecting individuals for the purposes of dating.

Deceptive

Sites that attempt to trick the user into believing they are on a different site in order to gather information or for other purposes. Also includes sites with deceptive advertising practices such as performing click redirections without the user’s consent.

Drugs

Sites that contain content whose main focus is on controlled substances, including the sale, discussion, or glorification of such substances. Does not include alcohol and tobacco as that has its own category.

Economy and Finance

Includes sites that are mainly focused on stocks and current market information or provide financial services such as banks or lenders.

Education and Self-help

Sites whose main purpose is to offer educational information, community information, or how-tos. Also includes educational facilities and related organizations.

Entertainment

Sites that focus on art and entertainment, including topics like TV/Hollywood, tattoos, cartoons, and anime.

Food and Recipes

Sites that contain food-related information, recipes, food preparation or restaurant services.

Gambling

Includes sites that make use of common blogging software including WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal, amongst others, which generate dynamic content. Normally used as a secondary category to a more descriptive primary category.

Games

Sites that provide games, including online games or through an application.

Hacking and Cracking

Sites that disseminate information, hold discussions or provide a means to gain unauthorized or illegal access to computers and networks.

Humour

Sites that contain content with a focus on jokes or comedy, including satire.

Health

Sites whose content is focused on a person’s well-being, including fitness or workout information, medical conditions, diagnoses, and medical services.

Illegal Content

Sites that focus on providing links to pirated movies, commercial software, or providing application keys and cracks for commercial applications.

Jobs and Careers

Sites that focus on assisting visitors in finding employment, career guidance or improvement.

Information Technology

Sites whose main focus is on computers or distributing computer related information, including computer networking, Internet telephony, operating systems, or programming.

Malicious

Sites that are infected with or distribute any kind of malware, spyware, or viruses. Also contains sites acting as a C&C for bots, worms, trojans, and other malware.

Media Sharing

Sites that allow visitors to upload content and share media such as photos and videos.

Message Boards and Forums

Sites which provide some type of a messaging or bulletin board system whose content is largely community generated.

News and Media

Sites whose content is mostly focused on current events and topics. Includes various news outlets, radio, TV stations, and magazines.

Parked Sites and Domains

Sites/domain names that are no longer controlled by the original owner or are being offered for sale. Content on these sites can often be misleading for non-technical users.

Proxy and Filter Avoidance

Sites that provide information or a means to circumvent filtering proxies or detection systems, including VPN services and anonymous surfing.

Real Estate

Sites that provide information or services for renting, selling, or buying property.

Religion

Sites that provide information on one or more religious beliefs, practices, or are affiliated with a religious institution such as a church or synagogue.

Search Engines and Portals

Sites that enable their visitors to search the Internet or whose main focus is to provide links to other Internet sites.

Shopping

Sites that sell products or services, normally with an online purchasing interface.

Social Networking

Sites that provide a community portal whereby members join and contribute posts or media and forge connections with other members.

Streaming Media

Sites that are mainly dedicated to the serving of video or audio streams and downloads.

Sports

Sites that contain information about various sports and sporting activities, including sports scores or team information.

Translation Sites

Sites that perform translation from one language to another, usually performed by a computer. May also include personal translation services.

Travel

Sites that focus on travel planning services, travel reservations, and tourist information.

Uncategorized

Sites that are not currently classified as belonging to one of the other categories or are not yet classified.

Vehicles

Sites that mainly hold discussions or share information about vehicles, including cars, trucks, boats, and aircraft.

Virtual Reality

Sites that host files specific to virtual reality or run communities related to the technology.

Weapons

Sites that primarily discuss, review, or sell items such as hunting knives, guns, rifles, or BB guns.

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