A website's URL, or address, can provide clues as to its origin. You can look there for hints that a website is posing as a more trusted news source. Compare the following images:
The designation .com indicates a commercial organization based in the U.S.A. The designation .co indicates a domain registered in Colombia. One way organizations disguise themselves is to introduce .com, .org, or .gov before the final code that indicates the site's actual origin. For example, abcnews.com is owned by ABC, Inc., which is owned by a division of The Walt Disney Company and redirects to abcnews.go.com; however, abcnews.com.co appears to be registered to a private individual.
Services like ICANN's WHOIS and others can help you identify the registrant of a web domain. The folks at November Learning, an education-consulting service, have put together a handy guide to reading web addresses, and the ISO posts a complete list of country codes.
People who are confident in their work have reason to let people know who created it. Being open to feedback helps a creator improve their work's quality and can lead to more and better-paying work.
"About Us Analysis. I usually google every title/domain name/anyone listed in the 'About Us' section to see if anyone has previously reported on the website (Snopes, Hoax-Slayer, Politifact, Factcheck, etc.) or whether it has a Wikipedia page or something similar detailing its background. This is useful for identifying and correctly interpreting lesser known and/or new websites that may be on the up-and-up, such as satirical sources or websites that are explicit about their political orientation.
"Then I look for information about the credentials and backgrounds of affiliated writers (is it a content mill or do they pay their writers?), editors, publishers, and domain owners (who.is etc.). It’s also useful to see if the website has a 'Legal' or 'Disclaimer' section. Many satirical websites disclose this information in those sections.
"A total lack of About Us, Contact Us, or any other type of identifying information may mean that the website is not a legitimate source of information." (Melissa Zimdars).