How to Cite a Website So Readers Can Verify the Source
A website citation has one job: to let a reader open the same page you read and find the same words. Format matters less than whether that is still possible next year.
in short
To cite a website, collect the author or organization, the date the page was published or updated, the page title, the site name and the address. Format them in your style: APA puts the date after the author, MLA puts it after the site name, Chicago writes a note. Add an access date only when the page can change.
Students search for how to cite a website because the style guides give a template and the page in front of them refuses to fit it. There is no author, or the only date is a copyright line in the footer, or the page changed last week. This guide formats one real NASA page in APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago, shows what to do when an element is missing, and then covers the part the guides leave to you: making the citation checkable by citing the specific page, linking to the exact sentence and saving a dated copy.
What every website citation needs
Five facts, gathered before you write a word of the citation.
A web page hides its facts in different corners: the byline near the title, the date in a footer, the site name in the browser tab. Collect them first, then format. The five elements are the author (a person or an organization), the date, the page title, the site name and the address. A sixth, the date you read the page, is needed only when the content can change.
The Purdue OWL guide to electronic sources in APA style gives the order: author, date in parentheses, page title in italics, site name, address. Its MLA counterpart adds a habit worth copying: keep a record of when you first consulted each online source, because online information can change or disappear.
How to cite a website in APA, MLA and Chicago
The example is the NASA Science page titled Black Holes, at science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/. On 24 September 2026 it shows no byline, a footer line reading Page Last Updated: Aug 12, 2026, and a page editor's name. An editor is not an author, so the author is NASA and the site name is NASA Science.
| Style | Reference list or bibliography entry | In the text |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | NASA. (2026, August 12). Black holes. NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/ | (NASA, 2026) or, for a quotation, (NASA, 2026, para. 1) |
| MLA 9 | "Black Holes." NASA Science, 12 Aug. 2026, science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/. | ("Black Holes") |
| Chicago, notes and bibliography | NASA. "Black Holes." NASA Science. Last updated August 12, 2026. https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/. | Note: 1. NASA, "Black Holes," NASA Science, last updated August 12, 2026, https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/. |
APA writes the title in sentence case and puts the full date after the author. MLA drops the author when the organization that wrote the page also publishes the site, so its entry begins with the title. Chicago writes last updated, because the page has no publication date of its own.
For a quotation, APA wants a locator on an unnumbered page: count the paragraphs and write para. and the number. MLA cites the title alone. Ellipses, brackets and block quotations follow the rules in the guide to quoting a line and citing it in three styles covers.
How to cite a website in MLA: the core elements, in order
MLA 9 does not give a separate fixed template for every kind of source. The MLA Style Center's citations by format page says works cited entries are built from a template of core elements: work out which elements apply to the source, then list each one in the order the template gives. For a single page on a website, six or seven elements usually apply.
| Order | Element | What to write for a web page | Punctuation after it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Author | Last name, first name; leave out if the organization that wrote the page also publishes the site | Period |
| 2 | Title of source | The page or article title, in quotation marks | Period, inside the quotation marks |
| 3 | Title of container | The website's name, in italics | Comma |
| 4 | Publisher | The organization behind the site, only if its name differs from the site name | Comma |
| 5 | Publication date | Day, abbreviated month and year, as the page prints it | Comma |
| 6 | Location | The URL, without https:// | Period |
| 7 | Access date | Accessed and the date you read the page, when it shows no date | Period |
The Purdue OWL guide to MLA electronic sources adds two details for web pages. If the publisher is the same as the website name, list it only once, and leave https:// off the address. An access date is not required, but Purdue encourages one, especially when the page shows no date.
Read the entry element by element: the author, the page title in quotation marks, the site name in italics, the publisher (included because the trust's name differs from the site's), the date and the address. If the site were published by an organization also called Coastal Field Notes, the publisher slot would drop out, and if the page had no byline, the entry would begin with the title, as the NASA entry above does.
The in-text form is short. MLA cites the author's last name in parentheses, and a web page without page numbers gets no number: (Hale). If you name the author in your own sentence, the parenthesis can be left out. With no author, use the title, shortened if it is long, in quotation marks: ("How Tide Pools Survive"). For quotations, narrative citations and the matching APA and Chicago forms, see how in-text citations work in each style.
Pages with no author, no date or no title
Most web pages lack at least one element. Every style fills the slot with the next most useful fact.
| Missing element | APA 7 | MLA 9 and Chicago |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Start with the title; the date follows it. | Start with the title. Chicago may use the site owner as author. |
| Date | Write (n.d.) in place of the year; add a retrieval date if the page can change. | MLA: omit the date and add Accessed plus the date. Chicago: put an access date in the note. |
| Title | Describe the page in square brackets, for example [Home page]. | Describe the page in your own words, without quotation marks. |
| Stable address | Use the archived copy's address and a retrieval date. | Use the archived copy's address or a permalink. |
One caution: a copyright year in the footer is the site's date, not the page's. Treat it as no date.
Make the citation checkable, not only correct
A well formatted citation to a page that has since changed proves nothing. Three additions to your own record fix that.
Cite the specific page, never the homepage
The address must open the page that contains the words. Copy it from the browser bar and strip any tracking parameters after the question mark if the page opens without them.
Highlight the sentence and make a link to it
Build a highlight link: the address followed by
#:~:text=and the sentence, which current browsers open scrolled to that sentence with the text marked. You can paste the address and the sentence into the generator and copy the result.Save an archived copy with the Wayback Machine
Paste the page address into the Save Page Now box at web.archive.org. The Internet Archive help page says the service saves the page and gives you a permanent address. Do it on the day you read the page, so the timestamp and your access date agree.
Cite the archive address when the page may change
For a news story, a policy page, a wiki or anything with an update line, give the archived address after or instead of the live one. APA already recommends this for Wikipedia entries.
Record the access date and the highlight link together
Write the reading date, the highlight link and the archive address on one line under the citation. That line is your record.
A worked example, start to finish
Suppose your essay says that black holes are not empty space, and you quote NASA: "They're huge concentrations of matter packed into very tiny spaces." Here is the full record for that sentence, as it would sit in your notes.
The citation goes into the reference list and the locator after the quotation. The rest stays in your notes, or in a footnote if the assignment invites it. If NASA rewrites the paragraph next spring, you can still show the sentence you quoted. The highlight link uses four words because a text fragment matches the first occurrence on the page; why a highlight link sometimes opens at the wrong spot covers repeated phrases.
Pitfalls when citing a website
- Citing the homepage. The reader lands on a menu and has to guess.
- Using the footer copyright year as the date. It belongs to the site, not the page.
- Treating a search engine or a chatbot as the source. They are how you found the page, not the source.
- Copying an address with tracking parameters. Everything after the question mark usually identifies your session, not the page.
- Leaving the retrieval date off a page that changes. No one can then tell which version you read.
Expert tips for citations that hold up
- Gather the elements into a five-line note before formatting. Formatting from that note takes a minute in any style.
- Look for a published or updated line before settling for n.d. Many sites print the date only near the footer.
- Archive first, cite second. Then the archive timestamp and your access date match.
- Keep one record line per source, in the essay's folder. A journalist would call it a log; the log format that pairs each claim with a link is the same idea.
- Treat the archive address as part of the citation. Letting a reader verify the source is what a citation is for, and it is the principle behind every guide on this site about highlights kept as a record.
Video sources need a time as well as a link: see how to cite a YouTube video. For audio, see how to cite a podcast; for the full Chicago system, Chicago style citation with examples. A checkable citation depends on two habits covered nearby: confirming that the page you cite is the origin of the claim and not a copy, and saving an archived copy and a dated note as digital evidence so the citation still resolves after the page changes.
Knowing how to cite a website is half formatting and half record keeping. Collect the five elements, put them in your style's order, and fill any gap with the substitute the guides provide. Then cite the exact page, link to the exact sentence, and save a dated copy. The citation tells the reader where you looked. The record proves what was there.
Common questions
How do I cite a website with no author in APA?
Move the page title into the author position, followed by the date in parentheses, then the site name and the address. In the text, cite a shortened title in quotation marks with the year. With no date, write n.d. and add a retrieval date.
Do I need an access date when citing a website?
Only when the page can change or shows no date. APA calls it a retrieval date and uses it for wikis and other updated pages. MLA adds the word Accessed and the date, optional but encouraged when no date is visible. Chicago does the same.
Should I cite the archived version of a web page?
Yes, when the page is likely to change or vanish. Save it with the Wayback Machine on the day you read it, then give the archived address after or instead of the live one. A reader who follows it sees the version you quoted.
How do I cite a specific sentence on a web page?
Give the paragraph number in APA, or the title alone in MLA, and keep a highlight link in your notes: the page address followed by #:~:text= and the quoted words; the reference page on text fragment links explains the format.
Is the site name the same as the author?
Often, and each style handles the repeat differently. APA drops the site name if it matches the author. MLA drops the author and begins with the title. Chicago keeps both. A page editor named in the footer is not the author.
How do you cite a website in MLA 9?
List the author, the page title in quotation marks, the website name in italics, the publisher if it differs from the site name, the publication date and the URL without https://. Add Accessed and the date when the page shows no date. In the text, cite the author's last name in parentheses.
Sources
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Checked against its sources and signed before it went out.
Nora Feld
Editor · reviewed 2 Nov 2026
