diff --git a/packages/api/src/elastic/pages.ts b/packages/api/src/elastic/pages.ts
index 49d1bda5e..929737e19 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/elastic/pages.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/elastic/pages.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,6 @@
-import {
-  ArticleSavingRequestStatus,
-  Page,
-  PageContext,
-  PageSearchArgs,
-  PageType,
-  ParamSet,
-  SearchBody,
-  SearchResponse,
-} from './types'
+import { ResponseError } from '@elastic/elasticsearch/lib/errors'
+import { EntityType } from '../datalayer/pubsub'
+import { BulkActionType } from '../generated/graphql'
 import {
   DateFilter,
   FieldFilter,
@@ -21,9 +14,16 @@ import {
   SortOrder,
 } from '../utils/search'
 import { client, INDEX_ALIAS } from './index'
-import { EntityType } from '../datalayer/pubsub'
-import { ResponseError } from '@elastic/elasticsearch/lib/errors'
-import { BulkActionType } from '../generated/graphql'
+import {
+  ArticleSavingRequestStatus,
+  Page,
+  PageContext,
+  PageSearchArgs,
+  PageType,
+  ParamSet,
+  SearchBody,
+  SearchResponse,
+} from './types'
 
 const appendQuery = (body: SearchBody, query: string): void => {
   body.query.bool.should.push({
@@ -224,6 +224,17 @@ const appendNoFilters = (body: SearchBody, noFilters: NoFilter[]): void => {
   })
 }
 
+const appendSiteNameFilter = (body: SearchBody, siteName: string): void => {
+  body.query.bool.should.push({
+    multi_match: {
+      query: siteName,
+      fields: ['siteName', 'url'],
+      analyzer: 'simple',
+    },
+  })
+  body.query.bool.minimum_should_match = 1
+}
+
 export const createPage = async (
   page: Page,
   ctx: PageContext
@@ -404,6 +415,7 @@ export const searchPages = async (
       ids,
       includeContent,
       noFilters,
+      siteName,
     } = args
     // default order is descending
     const sortOrder = sort?.order || SortOrder.DESCENDING
@@ -499,11 +511,10 @@ export const searchPages = async (
       })
     }
 
-    if (noFilters) {
-      appendNoFilters(body, noFilters)
-    }
+    noFilters && appendNoFilters(body, noFilters)
+    siteName && appendSiteNameFilter(body, siteName)
 
-    console.log('searching pages in elastic', JSON.stringify(body))
+    console.debug('searching pages in elastic', JSON.stringify(body))
 
     const response = await client.search<SearchResponse<Page>, SearchBody>({
       index: INDEX_ALIAS,
@@ -523,6 +534,10 @@ export const searchPages = async (
       response.body.hits.total.value,
     ]
   } catch (e) {
+    if (e instanceof ResponseError) {
+      console.error('failed to search pages in elastic', e.meta.body.error)
+      return undefined
+    }
     console.error('failed to search pages in elastic', e)
     return undefined
   }
diff --git a/packages/api/src/elastic/types.ts b/packages/api/src/elastic/types.ts
index 1ec528e54..70ee52beb 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/elastic/types.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/elastic/types.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Define the type of the body for the Search request
-import { PickTuple } from '../util'
 import { PubsubClient } from '../datalayer/pubsub'
+import { PickTuple } from '../util'
 import {
   DateFilter,
   FieldFilter,
@@ -80,13 +80,15 @@ export interface SearchBody {
         multi_match: {
           query: string
           fields: string[]
-          operator: 'and' | 'or'
-          type:
+          operator?: 'and' | 'or'
+          type?:
             | 'best_fields'
             | 'most_fields'
             | 'cross_fields'
             | 'phrase'
             | 'phrase_prefix'
+            | 'bool_prefix'
+          analyzer?: string
         }
       }[]
       minimum_should_match?: number
@@ -331,4 +333,5 @@ export interface PageSearchArgs {
   recommendedBy?: string
   includeContent?: boolean
   noFilters?: NoFilter[]
+  siteName?: string
 }
diff --git a/packages/api/src/utils/search.ts b/packages/api/src/utils/search.ts
index 15fd1f92c..9b87f7f72 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/utils/search.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/utils/search.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ export interface SearchFilter {
   ids: string[]
   recommendedBy?: string
   noFilters: NoFilter[]
+  siteName?: string
 }
 
 export enum LabelFilterType {
@@ -335,6 +336,7 @@ export const parseSearchQuery = (query: string | undefined): SearchFilter => {
       'recommendedBy',
       'no',
       'mode',
+      'site',
     ],
     tokenize: true,
   })
@@ -428,6 +430,9 @@ export const parseSearchQuery = (query: string | undefined): SearchFilter => {
         case 'mode':
           // mode is ignored and used only by the frontend
           break
+        case 'site':
+          result.siteName = keyword.value
+          break
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/packages/api/test/resolvers/article.test.ts b/packages/api/test/resolvers/article.test.ts
index 30ee73e67..3ab9829cd 100644
--- a/packages/api/test/resolvers/article.test.ts
+++ b/packages/api/test/resolvers/article.test.ts
@@ -1,31 +1,10 @@
-import { createTestUser, deleteTestUser } from '../db'
-import {
-  createTestElasticPage,
-  generateFakeUuid,
-  graphqlRequest,
-  request,
-} from '../util'
 import * as chai from 'chai'
 import { expect } from 'chai'
-import 'mocha'
-import { User } from '../../src/entity/user'
 import chaiString from 'chai-string'
-import {
-  BulkActionType,
-  SyncUpdatedItemEdge,
-  UpdateReason,
-  UploadFileStatus,
-} from '../../src/generated/graphql'
-import {
-  ArticleSavingRequestStatus,
-  Highlight,
-  Page,
-  PageContext,
-  PageType,
-} from '../../src/elastic/types'
-import { UploadFile } from '../../src/entity/upload_file'
+import 'mocha'
 import { createPubSubClient } from '../../src/datalayer/pubsub'
-import { getRepository } from '../../src/entity/utils'
+import { refreshIndex } from '../../src/elastic'
+import { addHighlightToPage } from '../../src/elastic/highlights'
 import {
   createPage,
   deletePage,
@@ -33,9 +12,30 @@ import {
   getPageById,
   updatePage,
 } from '../../src/elastic/pages'
-import { addHighlightToPage } from '../../src/elastic/highlights'
-import { refreshIndex } from '../../src/elastic'
+import {
+  ArticleSavingRequestStatus,
+  Highlight,
+  Page,
+  PageContext,
+  PageType,
+} from '../../src/elastic/types'
 import { SearchHistory } from '../../src/entity/search_history'
+import { UploadFile } from '../../src/entity/upload_file'
+import { User } from '../../src/entity/user'
+import { getRepository } from '../../src/entity/utils'
+import {
+  BulkActionType,
+  SyncUpdatedItemEdge,
+  UpdateReason,
+  UploadFileStatus,
+} from '../../src/generated/graphql'
+import { createTestUser, deleteTestUser } from '../db'
+import {
+  createTestElasticPage,
+  generateFakeUuid,
+  graphqlRequest,
+  request,
+} from '../util'
 
 chai.use(chaiString)
 
@@ -847,6 +847,7 @@ describe('Article API', () => {
           url: url,
           savedAt: new Date(),
           state: ArticleSavingRequestStatus.Succeeded,
+          siteName: 'Example',
         }
         page.id = (await createPage(page, ctx))!
         pages.push(page)
@@ -984,6 +985,18 @@ describe('Article API', () => {
         expect(res.body.data.search.pageInfo.totalCount).to.eq(0)
       })
     })
+
+    context('when site:${site_name} is in the query', () => {
+      before(async () => {
+        keyword = "'search api' site:example"
+      })
+
+      it('returns items from the site', async () => {
+        const res = await graphqlRequest(query, authToken).expect(200)
+
+        expect(res.body.data.search.pageInfo.totalCount).to.eq(5)
+      })
+    })
   })
 
   describe('TypeaheadSearch API', () => {