The search_domain_filter feature allows you to limit search results to specific domains or exclude certain domains from search results.

You can add a maximum of 3 domains to the search_domain_filter list.

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Overview

The search_domain_filter parameter allows you to control which websites are included in or excluded from the search results used by the Sonar models. This feature is particularly useful when you want to:

  • Restrict search results to trusted sources
  • Filter out specific domains from search results
  • Focus research on particular websites

Enabling domain filtering can be done by adding a search_domain_filter field in the request:

"search_domain_filter": [
  "<domain1>",
  "<domain2>",
  ...
]

Each entry in the list should be a simple domain name. To exclude a domain, prefix it with a minus sign (-).

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Examples

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1. Whitelist Specific Domains

This example shows how to limit search results to only include content from specific domains.

Request

import requests

url = "https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions"
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}
payload = {
    "model": "sonar-reasoning-pro",
    "messages": [
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Tell me about the James Webb Space Telescope discoveries."}
    ],
    "search_domain_filter": [
        "nasa.gov",
        "wikipedia.org",
        "space.com"
    ]
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=payload).json()
print(response["choices"][0]["message"]["content"])

Best Practice: Use simple domain names (e.g., wikipedia.org) without additional elements like https:// or www. prefixes.

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2. Blacklist Specific Domains

This example shows how to exclude specific domains from search results by prefixing the domain name with a minus sign (-).

Request

import requests

url = "https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions"
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}
payload = {
    "model": "sonar-deep-research",
    "messages": [
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "What are the latest advancements in renewable energy?"}
    ],
    "search_domain_filter": [
        "-pinterest.com",
        "-reddit.com",
        "-quora.com"
    ]
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=payload).json()
print(response["choices"][0]["message"]["content"])

Best Practice: Use simple domain names with a minus prefix (e.g., -pinterest.com) to exclude domains from search results.

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Best Practices

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Domain Specification

  • Use simple domain names: Specify domains in their simplest form (e.g., example.com) without protocol prefixes (http://, https://) or subdomain specifiers (www.).
  • Main domains only: Using the main domain (e.g., nytimes.com) will filter all subdomains as well.

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Filter Optimization

  • Be specific: Use domains that are most relevant to your query to get the best results.
  • Combine approaches: You can mix inclusion and exclusion in the same request (e.g., ["wikipedia.org", "-pinterest.com"]).
  • Limit filter size: Although you can add up to 3 domains, using fewer, more targeted domains often yields better results.

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Performance Considerations

  • Adding domain filters may slightly increase response time as the search engine needs to apply additional filtering.
  • Overly restrictive domain filters might result in fewer search results, potentially affecting the quality of the response.