How to APA Cite a Website

An APA website citation needs four parts in this order: Author, (Year, Month Day), Title of page, Site Name, URL. If a date or author is missing, you swap in specific replacements instead of skipping the slot.

The basic format

Here's the full reference-list template from APA 7:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the work. Site Name. URL

And here's what it looks like filled in:

Smith, J. (2023, March 14). Why dogs tilt their heads. Animal Cognition Today. https://example.com/head-tilt

In-text, that same source becomes (Smith, 2023) or Smith (2023) argues...

Notice what's italicized. The page title, not the site name. That trips up most students. If the page is part of a larger site like The New York Times or BBC News, italicize the title of the page (the article) and leave the site name in plain text.

When the author is missing

This is the most common website problem. APA 7 has two rules:

1. If a group or organization runs the site, use them as the author. CDC. World Health Organization. Pew Research Center.
2. If no author is listed at all, move the title into the author slot.

So a page on cdc.gov with no byline becomes:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, January 8). About measles. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about

And if the site name and the author are identical (like above), you skip the site name to avoid repetition. APA explicitly says don't repeat it.

When the date is missing

Use (n.d.) which stands for "no date." Don't guess. Don't use the copyright year at the bottom of the page, because that's often the site's footer year, not the page's publish date.

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Style and grammar guidelines. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines

In-text: (American Psychological Association, n.d.).

When the page might change

For pages that update (Wikipedia, dictionary entries, live data dashboards), include a retrieval date:

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Plagiarism. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved June 1, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism

You only add "Retrieved [date], from" when the content is designed to change. A regular news article doesn't need it. The APA Style website is clear on this distinction.

Worked example

You're citing this CDC page on hand-washing, published August 5, 2024, no individual author.

In-text: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024)

Reference list:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, August 5). About handwashing. https://www.cdc.gov/clean-hands/about

That's it. Four elements. Period after each. URL last, no period at the end.

Common mistakes that cost points

• Wrapping URLs in <> or "Available at:". APA doesn't use either. Just the bare URL.
• "Retrieved from". Dropped in APA 7. Only use "Retrieved [date], from" for content that changes.
• Italicizing the site name instead of the page title. Backwards.
• Adding the access date for stable pages. Unnecessary.
• Writing out the full month name without a day. If you only have the year, just use the year: (2024). If you have month and day, write (2024, August 5).

Social media posts count as websites

A tweet, Instagram post, or LinkedIn update follows the same logic but uses the author's handle in brackets and the first 20 words of the post as the title:

APA Style [@APA_Style]. (2023, October 12). The Publication Manual is now available in a spiral-bound edition [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/APA_Style/status/...

The format type goes in square brackets after the title: [Tweet], [Video], [Status update].

What about whole websites?

If you're referring to a website as a whole and not a specific page, you don't make a reference-list entry at all. You mention it in your text with the URL in parentheses. Example: "The APA Style website (https://apastyle.apa.org) has detailed guidance."

That's the loophole most students miss. A reference-list citation is for a specific page or piece of content. The site as a whole gets a parenthetical mention only.

Quick checklist

Before you submit, run through this:

• Author or group name listed first? Or title if neither exists?
• Year in parentheses, with month and day if available?
• Page title italicized?
• Site name in plain text (and dropped if it matches the author)?
• URL at the end, no period?
• In-text citations match the first element of each reference?

If you can answer yes to all six, your citation is APA 7 compliant.

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