Introduction to Website Categorization API and our other API solutions

1. Website categorization API

Our Website Categorization API provides accurate URL/webpage classification based on the widely trusted IAB Taxonomy. It also returns categories for a Website Filtering Taxonomy and relevant User Personas (that may be interested in webpage, from around 2000 User Personas). All categorizations are returned with their confidence scores.

Categorizations are done in real-time and using full-path URLs. In addition to URLs, you can also use our API to classify plain text.

We return categorizations of URLS for the following taxonomies:

• IAB, version 3, with 4 Tiers (taxonomy from Internet Advertising Bureau - IAB, with members including top global companies - Ford, IBM, Unilever, etc.) (703 categories)
• IAB, version 2, with 4 Tiers (taxonomy from Internet Advertising Bureau - IAB, with members including top global companies - Procter & Gamble, General Motors, etc.) (698 categories)
• IPTC NewsCodes, especially suitable for News Categorization (used by the world's largest news agencies, such as Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, News York Times) (1124 categories)
• Web Content Filtering Taxonomy (44 categories)
• Google Shopping Taxonomy, used by millions of online retailers (5474 categories)
• Shopify Taxonomy, used by millions of online stores (10560 categories)
• Amazon Taxonomy (39004 categories)

We also return the following classifications / enriched data about each URL:

• Detection of Malware/Social Engineering/Mailicious Software
• Web Technologies used
• Likely Buyer Personas
• Topics
• Key Entities Named
• Sentiment Analysis
• Similar companies / Competitors
• Similar domains
• Tags
• Keywords

Detailed information about enrichment data fields is available here.

For low latency use cases we also offer an offline categorization database with 30 million domains already classified.
It covers 99% of the active internet usage, with 18 million domains sourced from Google Chrome UX Report. Check out our 30M database here.

Test categorization API on any URL

2. Web Technology Lookup API

For each URL we return all the web technologies used by the website among the 4000+ web technologies that we track.

Test web technology API on any URL

Authentication

Send your API requests to: https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/

You must have a valid API key, available by purchasing a subscription. After obtaining your plan, log in to retrieve the key.

The API key should be included in all requests as a parameter, for example:

api_key: b4dade2ce5fb2d0b189b5eb6f0cd

Successful requests return 200. Results are in JSON by default.

Rules and Limits

Website Categorization of URLs

The default API classifies URLs according to the following major taxonomies:

• IAB (v3) returned under iab_taxonomy
• IAB (v2) returned under iab_taxonomy_version2
• Web Filtering returned under filtering_taxonomy

To obtain enriched data (web technologies, detection of malware/social engineering/malicious software, entity detection, etc.) please pass parameter expanded_categories=1 to the URL.

Example request (Curl POST):

              
                
              
curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
     -d 'query=www.apple.com&api_key=your_api_key&data_type=url&confidence=1&expanded_categories=1' \
     'https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/iab/iab_web_content_filtering.php'
            

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
query	string	The URL or text to be categorized.
api_key	string	Your API key.
data_type	string	"url" or "text".
confidence	string	set to value 1 to obtain confidence scores of User Personas
expanded_categories	string	set to value 1 to obtain enrichment data and malware detection
expanded_categories	string	set to value 1 to obtain enrichment data and malware detection, set this to "malware_social_engineering_malicious_software_detection" to obtain only malware detection and not enriched categories
use_domain_as_basis_of_categorization_for_insufficient_subdomain_content	string	set to value 1 to use domain as basis of categorization in cases where you are passing as URL a subdomain (e.g. api.deepl.com) but it has no content or insufficient content (e.g. 404 error). If you use this parameter set to 1, then API will return categorization of such subdomain based on content of corresponding root domain, in this case deepl.com

{
  "iab_classification": [
    [
      "Category name: Technology & Computing > Computing > Computer Software and Applications > Operating Systems",
      "Confidence: 1.0"
    ],
    [
      "Category name: Technology & Computing > Consumer Electronics",
      "Confidence: 0.5414350628852844"
    ],
    [
      "Category name: Technology & Computing > Consumer Electronics > Smartphones",
      "Confidence: 0.313300222158432"
    ],
    [
      "Category name: Technology & Computing > Computing",
      "Confidence: 0.19400359690189362"
    ],
    [
      "Category name: Business and Finance > Business",
      "Confidence: 0.19046887755393982"
    ],
    [
      "Category name: Technology & Computing > Computing > Laptops",
      "Confidence: 0.13031959533691406"
    ],
    [
      "Category name: Technology & Computing > Computing > Computer Peripherals",
      "Confidence: 0.10443061590194702"
    ]
  ],
  "filtering_taxonomy": [
    [
      "Category name: Computers & Technology",
      "Confidence: 1.0"
    ]
  ],
  "status": 200,
  "buyer_personas_confidence_selection": {
    "Smartphone Enthusiast": 1,
    "Tech Enthusiast": 0.9,
    "Gadget Enthusiast": 0.9,
    "Technology Enthusiast": 0.9,
    "Consumer Advocate": 0.7,
    "Software Developer": 0.6,
    "IT Professional": 0.6,
    "Digital Marketer": 0.6,
    "Business Owner": 0.6,
    "E-commerce Entrepreneur": 0.6,
    "Cloud Computing Specialist": 0.5,
    "Mobile App Developer": 0.5,
    "AI Technologist": 0.5,
    "Web Developer": 0.5,
    "Startup Enthusiast": 0.5,
    "Application Developer": 0.5,
    "Hardware Engineer": 0.5,
    "Cybersecurity Expert": 0.4,
    "IoT Enthusiast": 0.4,
    "Data Scientist": 0.4,
    "DevOps Engineer": 0.4,
    "Information Systems Manager": 0.4,
    "Consulting Enthusiast": 0.4,
    "Backend Developer": 0.4,
    "Data Analyst": 0.4,
    "Full Stack Developer": 0.4,
    "Network Administrator": 0.4,
    "Database Administrator": 0.3,
    "Financial Analyst": 0.3,
    "Financial Advisor": 0.3,
    "Investor": 0.3,
    "Economic Analyst": 0.3,
    "Portfolio Manager": 0.3
  },
  "technologies_website": {
    "https://www.apple.com/": {
      "status": 200
    }
  },
  "data": {
    "Topics": [
      [
        "MacBook Air performance",
        "Highlighted sky high performance with M4 chip"
      ],
      [
        "Education savings",
        "Promotion for buying Mac or iPad for college"
      ],
      [
        "iPhone 16 family",
        "Introduction and shop link for iPhone 16 models"
      ],
      [
        "Apple Intelligence",
        "Repeated "built for apple intelligence" branding"
      ],
      [
        "Trade-in program",
        "$170–$630 credit when trading in eligible iPhone"
      ],
      [
        "Apple Card benefits",
        "Up to 3% daily cash back"
      ],
      [
        "Entertainment services",
        "Apple TV+, Apple Music, Podcasts etc"
      ],
      [
        "Accessibility features",
        "AirPods Pro 2 hearing aid and protection"
      ]
    ],
    "Key Named Entities": [
      [
        "Apple Inc.",
        "Organization"
      ],
      [
        "MacBook Air",
        "Product"
      ],
      [
        "iPhone 16",
        "Product"
      ],
      [
        "AirPods Pro 2",
        "Product"
      ],
      [
        "Goldman Sachs Bank USA",
        "Organization"
      ],
      [
        "MLB Advanced Media, L.P.",
        "Organization"
      ],
      [
        "FDA",
        "Organization"
      ]
    ],
    "Likely Buyer Personas": [
      [
        "College Students",
        "Education discount offers for Mac and iPad"
      ],
      [
        "Tech Enthusiasts",
        "Interest in latest hardware and Apple Intelligence"
      ],
      [
        "Audio Users",
        "Hearing aid and protection features in AirPods Pro 2"
      ],
      [
        "Creative Professionals",
        "MacBook Pro performance for work"
      ],
      [
        "Entertainment Consumers",
        "Subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music"
      ]
    ],
    "Related Keywords": [
      "macbook air",
      "iphone 16",
      "airpods pro 2",
      "apple intelligence",
      "trade-in",
      "apple card",
      "apple tv+",
      "apple music",
      "hearing aid feature",
      "education savings"
    ],
    "Similar companies": [
      [
        "Samsung",
        "Competes in smartphones and tablets"
      ],
      [
        "Google",
        "Competes with Pixel devices and services"
      ],
      [
        "Microsoft",
        "Competes with Surface devices and Windows ecosystem"
      ],
      [
        "Bose",
        "Competes in audio headset market"
      ],
      [
        "Netflix",
        "Competes with Apple TV+ streaming service"
      ]
    ],
    "Tags": [
      "Apple",
      "MacBook",
      "iPhone",
      "iPad",
      "AirPods",
      "Apple Intelligence",
      "Trade-In",
      "Apple Card",
      "Entertainment",
      "Accessibility"
    ],
    "Social media profiles": [
      "No social media profiles present in page content"
    ],
    "Likely Audience Demographics": [
      [
        "Ages 18–24",
        "Targeted by education promotions and hearing features"
      ],
      [
        "Ages 25–45",
        "Professionals and tech enthusiasts"
      ],
      [
        "Students",
        "Education savings on devices"
      ],
      [
        "Hearing-impaired adults",
        "AirPods Pro 2 hearing aid feature"
      ],
      [
        "Entertainment fans",
        "Apple TV+ and Music services"
      ]
    ],
    "Sentiment Analysis": [
      [
        "Apple Inc.",
        "Neutral"
      ],
      [
        "MacBook Air",
        "Positive"
      ],
      [
        "iPhone 16",
        "Positive"
      ],
      [
        "AirPods Pro 2",
        "Positive"
      ],
      [
        "Apple Card",
        "Neutral"
      ]
    ],
    "Language": [
      "English"
    ],
    "Legal Entity & Address": [
      [
        "Apple Inc.",
        "Legal entity name found in footer; no address present"
      ]
    ]
  },
  "malware": "No detection of Malware/Social Engineering/Malicious_Software", 
  "technologies": [
    {
      "slug": "cart-functionality",
      "name": "Cart Functionality",
      "description": "Websites that have a shopping cart or checkout page, either using a known ecommerce platform or a custom solution.",
      "confidence": 100,
      "version": null,
      "icon": "Cart-generic.svg",
      "website": "",
      "cpe": null,
      "categories": [
        {
          "id": 6,
          "slug": "ecommerce",
          "name": "Ecommerce"
        }
      ],
      "rootPath": true
    },
    {
      "slug": "apple-mapkit-js",
      "name": "Apple MapKit JS",
      "description": "Apple MapKit JS lets you embed interactive maps directly into your websites across platforms and operating systems, including iOS and Android.",
      "confidence": 100,
      "version": null,
      "icon": "Apple.svg",
      "website": "https://developer.apple.com/maps/web/",
      "cpe": null,
      "categories": [
        {
          "id": 35,
          "slug": "maps",
          "name": "Maps"
        }
      ],
      "rootPath": true
    },
    {
      "slug": "adobe-target",
      "name": "Adobe Target",
      "description": "Adobe Target is an A/B testing, multi-variate testing, personalisation, and optimisation application",
      "confidence": 100,
      "version": "2.3.2",
      "icon": "Adobe.svg",
      "website": "https://www.adobe.com/marketing/target.html",
      "cpe": null,
      "categories": [
        {
          "id": 74,
          "slug": "a-b-testing",
          "name": "A/B Testing"
        },
        {
          "id": 76,
          "slug": "personalisation",
          "name": "Personalisation"
        }
      ],
      "rootPath": true
    },
    {
      "slug": "adobe-analytics",
      "name": "Adobe Analytics",
      "description": "Adobe Analytics is a web analytics, marketing and cross-channel analytics application.",
      "confidence": 100,
      "version": null,
      "icon": "Adobe Analytics.svg",
      "website": "https://www.adobe.com/analytics/adobe-analytics.html",
      "cpe": null,
      "categories": [
        {
          "id": 10,
          "slug": "analytics",
          "name": "Analytics"
        }
      ],
      "rootPath": true
    },
    {
      "slug": "preact",
      "name": "Preact",
      "description": "Preact is a JavaScript library that describes itself as a fast 3kB alternative to React with the same ES6 API.",
      "confidence": 100,
      "version": null,
      "icon": "Preact.svg",
      "website": "https://preactjs.com",
      "cpe": null,
      "categories": [
        {
          "id": 59,
          "slug": "javascript-libraries",
          "name": "JavaScript libraries"
        }
      ],
      "rootPath": true
    },
    {
      "slug": "hsts",
      "name": "HSTS",
      "description": "HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) informs browsers that the site should only be accessed using HTTPS.",
      "confidence": 100,
      "version": null,
      "icon": "default.svg",
      "website": "https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6797#section-6.1",
      "cpe": null,
      "categories": [
        {
          "id": 16,
          "slug": "security",
          "name": "Security"
        }
      ],
      "rootPath": true
    },
    {
      "slug": "open-graph",
      "name": "Open Graph",
      "description": "Open Graph is a protocol that is used to integrate any web page into the social graph.",
      "confidence": 100,
      "version": null,
      "icon": "Open Graph.png",
      "website": "https://ogp.me",
      "cpe": null,
      "categories": [
        {
          "id": 19,
          "slug": "miscellaneous",
          "name": "Miscellaneous"
        }
      ],
      "rootPath": true
    }
  ]
}
            

Example Code

Below are production-ready code examples for our API in various languages with error handling and best practices.

Example Code in Python

              
                
              
import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("www.websitecategorizationapi.com")
payload = 'query=www.alpha-quantum.com&api_key=your_api_key&data_type=url'
headers = {
  'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
}

conn.request("POST", "/api/iab/iab_web_content_filtering.php", payload, headers)
res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()
print(data.decode("utf-8"))
            

Example Code in JavaScript

              
                
              
var myHeaders = new Headers();
myHeaders.append("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");

var urlencoded = new URLSearchParams();
urlencoded.append("query", "www.alpha-quantum.com");
urlencoded.append("api_key", "your_api_key");
urlencoded.append("data_type", "url");

var requestOptions = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: myHeaders,
  body: urlencoded,
  redirect: 'follow'
};

fetch("https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/iab/iab_web_content_filtering.php", requestOptions)
  .then(response => response.text())
  .then(result => console.log(result))
  .catch(error => console.log('error', error));
            

Example Code in Ruby

              
                
              
require 'net/http'
require 'uri'

uri = URI("https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/iab/iab_web_content_filtering.php")
request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
request["Content-Type"] = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"

payload = "query=www.alpha-quantum.com&api_key=your_api_key&data_type=url"
request.body = payload

response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) do |http|
  http.request(request)
end

puts response.body
            

Example Code in PHP

              
                
              

$apiKey = "your_api_key";
$query = "www.alpha-quantum.com";
$dataType = "url";

$url = "https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/iab/iab_web_content_filtering.php";

$postData = http_build_query([
  'query' => $query,
  'api_key' => $apiKey,
  'data_type' => $dataType
]);

$options = [
  "http" => [
    "header"  => "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n",
    "method"  => "POST",
    "content" => $postData,
  ],
];

$context  = stream_context_create($options);
$response = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);

echo $response;
?>
            

Example Code in C#

              
                
              
using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main(string[] args)
    {
        var apiKey = "your_api_key";
        var query = "www.alpha-quantum.com";
        var dataType = "url";

        var url = "https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/iab/iab_web_content_filtering.php";

        using var client = new HttpClient();
        var data = new FormUrlEncodedContent(new Dictionary
        {
            { "query", query },
            { "api_key", apiKey },
            { "data_type", dataType }
        });

        var response = await client.PostAsync(url, data);
        var result = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
        Console.WriteLine(result);
    }
}
            

Website Categorization of Texts

To categorize plain text instead of a URL, set data_type=text and call: /api/iab/iab_content_filtering.php.

Batch Processing API

Our Batch Processing API allows you to submit large collections of URLs for categorization in a single request. This is perfect for:

• Large-scale analysis - Process thousands of URLs at once
• Periodic batch jobs - Regular categorization of domain lists
• Data migration - Categorizing existing URL databases
• Research projects - Academic or commercial research requiring bulk categorization

Key Features

Quick Start

1. Submit a batch job:

              
                
              
curl -X POST \
  -H 'Content-Type: multipart/form-data' \
  -F 'api_key=your_api_key' \
  -F '[email protected]' \
  'https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/batch/batch_upload.php'
            

2. Check job status:

              
                
              
curl 'https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/batch/status.php?job_id=YOUR_JOB_ID&api_key=your_api_key'
            

3. Download results:

              
                
              
curl -O 'https://www.websitecategorizationapi.com/api/batch/download.php?job_id=YOUR_JOB_ID&format=json&api_key=your_api_key'
            

Supported File Formats

Format	Description	Example
CSV	Comma-separated values, one URL per row	example.com google.com
JSON	JSON array or object with domains array	["example.com", "google.com"]
TXT	Plain text, one URL per line	example.com google.com

Errors

Each response includes a status value. For example: {"classification": "...", "status": 200, ...}

Possible error codes:

Error Code	Meaning
200	Request was successful.
400	Error forming request. Check parameters.
401	Invalid API key. Purchase or check for typos.
403	Monthly quota used up. Upgrade or buy more credits.
407	Missing data_type. Must be "url" or "text".
410	Insufficient tokens in content / URL could not be loaded.
411	URL content could not be fetched.
500	General error. Check request or contact support.