Limit to specific domains in when searching Google
Limiting the domain of the websites you're searching in Google is one of the quickest ways to narrow your results and find more credible resources quickly! URL domains can be clues to a site's reliability and ownership.
Common URL domains:
- .com = commercial (ads & pop-ups)
- .gov = U.S. government (official agencies)
- .mil = U.S. military
- .edu = educational (colleges & universities)
- .org = organization (could be non-profit or for-profit, can be informative but often biased)
- .net = network (could be almost anything, including personal websites)
- .info = information (generic domain, no criteria needed for companies or individuals to use)
- .biz = business (an alternative to .com)
You can also limit your searches, like through a Google search, by using the "site:" search shortcut.
"Site searching" examples:
- politics in art site:edu (would find educational resources on this topic)
- politics in art site:gov (would find U.S. government resources on this topic)
- Note that there are NO spaces before or after the colon after the word "site"
