To cite a website, cite the specific page you used: give the author (a person or organization), the date the page was published or updated, the page title, the name of the website and the URL. In APA 7, the date comes right after the author and the page title is italic. In MLA 9, the page title goes in quotation marks, the website name is italic, and the date comes near the end. If there's no author, start with the title; if there's no date, write (n.d.) in APA or add an access date in MLA.
All examples below use fictional pages and organizations.
What to collect before you write the citation
Scroll the whole page, including the header, the byline and the footer. You're looking for:
- Author. A named person, or the organization responsible for the page. A government agency, school or nonprofit can be the author.
- Date. The publication date or a "last updated" date for that page. A copyright year in the site footer usually applies to the whole site, so most guides advise against using it as the page's date.
- Page title. The heading of the page, not the text in the browser tab if they differ.
- Website name. The name of the overall site, such as the organization's site or the publication.
- URL. The address of the specific page.
If you can't find something, that's fine. Each style has a way to handle a missing author or date, covered below.
APA 7th edition
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL
The page title is in italics and sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns.
Moreno, L. (2025, February 11). How rain gardens reduce street flooding. Greenway Water Project. https://www.example.org/rain-gardens
In-text: (Moreno, 2025) or Moreno (2025)
Lakeshore Public Health Department. (2024, June 3). Heat safety tips for outdoor workers. https://www.example.gov/heat-safety
In-text: (Lakeshore Public Health Department, 2024)
When the author and the website have the same name, APA drops the site name so it isn't repeated.
Lakeshore Public Health Department. (n.d.). Choosing a cooling center. https://www.example.gov/cooling-centers
In-text: (Lakeshore Public Health Department, n.d.)
Guide to campus recycling bins. (2023, August 28). Northfield College Facilities. https://www.example.edu/recycling
In-text: (Guide to Campus Recycling Bins, 2023)
With no author, the title moves to the author position. In the in-text citation, an italic page title is written in title case. For more patterns, see in-text citations with no author.
APA only adds a retrieval date for pages that are designed to change over time and aren't archived, such as a live data dashboard: "Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://…". For a normal article or information page, leave it out.
MLA 9th edition
Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page." Website Name, Publisher, Day Month Year, URL.
The page title goes in quotation marks and title case, and the website name is the italic container. Months longer than four letters are abbreviated (Feb., Sept., but June and July stay whole), and the URL drops https://.
Moreno, Luisa. "How Rain Gardens Reduce Street Flooding." Greenway Water Project, 11 Feb. 2025, www.example.org/rain-gardens.
In-text: (Moreno)
Web pages rarely have page numbers, so the in-text citation is usually just the author's last name. If the page has numbered paragraphs or section headings, you can point to them, but don't invent page numbers.
"Choosing a Cooling Center." Stay Cool Lakeshore, Lakeshore Public Health Department, www.example.gov/cooling-centers. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.
In-text: ("Choosing a Cooling Center")
Two details in that example:
- Publisher. MLA includes a publisher when it differs from the website name. Skip it when the names are essentially the same, and skip it for sites like newspapers and magazines where the site name already identifies the publisher.
- Access date. MLA treats it as optional, but it's useful when the page has no publication date, as here. It goes at the very end.
When an organization is both the author and the publisher, MLA starts the entry with the page title and lists the organization only as publisher.
Chicago style (notes-bibliography)
Chicago notes-bibliography uses a footnote where you cite the page and a bibliography entry at the end. Website names are usually set in plain text (roman), unless the site is an online publication such as a magazine.
Footnote:
- Luisa Moreno, "How Rain Gardens Reduce Street Flooding," Greenway Water Project, February 11, 2025, https://www.example.org/rain-gardens.
Shortened note:
- Moreno, "Rain Gardens."
Bibliography:
Moreno, Luisa. "How Rain Gardens Reduce Street Flooding." Greenway Water Project, February 11, 2025. https://www.example.org/rain-gardens.
If a page has no author, Chicago generally starts with the organization that owns the site or the title. If there's no date, add an access date ("accessed October 24, 2026"). For more on writing notes, see how to do footnotes.
Citation GeneratorAPA, MLA, Chicago and moreCiting a page vs. a whole website
Most of the time you're using information from one page, so cite that page. Citing the homepage when the fact came from a subpage makes it harder for your reader to check.
Sometimes you really are referring to a site in general, for example "The Greenway Water Project maintains a map of rain gardens across the city."
- APA: mention the site in your sentence and put the URL in parentheses. No reference list entry and no in-text date are needed.
- MLA: you can create a works-cited entry for the whole site: Website Name. Publisher, date, URL.
- Chicago: mentioning the site in your text is usually enough; add a note if your instructor wants one.
APA (in your sentence only):
The Greenway Water Project (https://www.example.org) maintains a map of rain gardens across the city.
MLA works-cited entry:
Greenway Water Project. Greenway Water Collective, 2025, www.example.org.
Quick comparison
| Element | APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago (notes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page title | Italic, sentence case | "Quoted," title case | "Quoted," title case |
| Website name | Plain, after title | Italic container | Plain (roman) usually |
| Date position | After author | Near the end | After site name |
| No date | (n.d.) | Optional access date | Access date |
| URL | Full, with https:// | Without https:// | Full |
Common mistakes
- Using the site's copyright year as the publication date. That date usually belongs to the whole site, not the page.
- Citing "Google" or a search results page. Cite the page you actually read.
- Treating the website as the author by default. Look for a person or an organization first.
- Pasting a tracking link. Use a clean URL without long tracking parameters.
Is the website a good source?
A correct citation doesn't make a weak source stronger. Before you cite, ask who runs the site, whether the page names its sources, and whether the information is current. For facts and statistics, try to trace them back to the original report or study and cite that. If you're comparing styles, the APA vs. MLA vs. Chicago guide shows which one your subject usually expects.
Key takeaways
- Cite the specific page, not the homepage, unless you're referring to the site as a whole.
- APA: author, (date), italic sentence-case title, site name, full URL; (n.d.) when undated.
- MLA: author, "Quoted Title," Website, publisher if different, date, URL without https://.
- Chicago: footnote plus bibliography; add an access date when there's no date on the page.
