# Web Category Filtering

Last Updated On: 27 Jul 2026  
3 minutes read

Control browsing across your organization by allowing or blocking access to entire categories of websites at once.

## How web categories work

Websites are grouped by content type so you can manage browsing activity in bulk instead of site by site.

### Category-based grouping

The **Web Category** feature, part of Web Filter, sorts websites into predefined content-type groups. This gives IT teams a simple way to manage browsing across the organization, keep employees focused on work, reduce exposure to malicious or inappropriate sites, and stay aligned with organizational policy and compliance requirements.

**Insight**

A trusted database maps well-known sites to a category. If a site isn't in the database, the Web Filter agent's **AI-powered content analysis engine** classifies it in real time instead.

You can allow or block access to any of the following categories:

- News
- Technology
- Entertainment
- Education
- Personal and Hobbies
- Health and Medicine
- Shopping
- Business
- Social Media
- Sports
- Finance
- Streaming
- Government and Legal
- Gambling
- Adult
- Job Search and Career Development

**Note**

Sites that don't fall into any of these categories are automatically classified as **Others**.

## Configuring category-based filtering

Category filtering is set up as part of the broader Web Filter configuration.

### Setting up restrictions

Category-based restrictions are configured from the Web Filter settings rather than from this page directly. See the [Web Filter](https://www.manageengine.com/desktop-management-msp/help/browser-security/web-filter.html#implementing-web-filtering) documentation for the configuration steps.

## Related

- [Web Filter configuration](https://www.manageengine.com/desktop-management-msp/help/browser-security/web-filter.html#implementing-web-filtering)
- [Browser Security FAQ](https://www.manageengine.com/desktop-management-msp/help/browser-security/browser-faq.html)