In APA 7th edition, cite a website as Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL, and in your text as (Author, Year). In MLA 9th edition, use Last, First. “Title of Page.” Website Name, Day Month Year, URL., and in your text as (Last). If the page has no author, start with the title; if it has no date, APA uses (n.d.) and MLA leaves the date out and adds an access date instead.
Those two templates cover most web pages you will cite in an essay or report. The details that cost marks are the edge cases: organizations as authors, missing dates, capitalization and the in-text form. This guide covers each one with examples (the example.com and example.org sources are illustrative). To skip the formatting, fill in the APA Citation Generator or the MLA Citation Generator and copy the result.
APA 7 website citation format
Template: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL
Patel, P. (2025, March 4). Why sleep matters for memory. Example Science Blog. https://www.example.com/sleep-memory
Element by element:
- Author: surname, then initials. For two authors, join them with ”&”: Patel, P., & Okafor, C. List up to 20 authors.
- Organization as author: write the full name, such as World Health Organization. If the author and the site name are the same, leave the site name out.
- Date: use the most specific date given, such as (2025, March 4). If the page shows a “last updated” date that applies to the content, use it. Do not use the copyright year in the site footer. No date at all: (n.d.).
- Title: italic and in sentence case: capitalize only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.
- Site name: in title case, not italic.
- URL: the full address including https://. APA 7 dropped “Retrieved from”, and there is no period after the URL.
Here is how you would cite this guide in APA, with AnyShift as both author and site, so the site name is omitted:
AnyShift. (2026, October 12). How to cite a website in APA and MLA: Rules and examples. https://anyshift.online/guides/how-to-cite-a-website-in-apa-and-mla/
Note the sentence case: “Rules” is capitalized because it follows a colon, while “examples” is not. Acronyms such as APA stay in capitals.
News sites: APA treats articles on news websites such as BBC News, CNN or Reuters as webpages, so the title is italic. Articles from newspapers such as The New York Times use the newspaper format instead: the article title is plain and the newspaper name is italic. The generators have a separate News article tab for that format.
MLA 9 website citation format
Template: Last, First. “Title of Page.” Name of Website, Publisher, Day Month Year, URL. Accessed Day Month Year.
Patel, Priya. “Why Sleep Matters for Memory.” Example Science Blog, 4 Mar. 2025, www.example.com/sleep-memory.
Element by element:
- Author: last name, then full first name. Two authors: Patel, Priya, and Chidi Okafor. Three or more: Patel, Priya, et al.
- Title: in quotation marks and title case. Capitalize the main words, and lowercase articles, prepositions and coordinating conjunctions (a, the, of, in, with, and, but) unless one of them is the first word of the title or subtitle.
- Website name: italic.
- Publisher: include it only when it differs from the website name.
- Date: day month year, with months longer than four letters abbreviated: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. May, June and July are written in full.
- URL: usually without http:// or https://. The entry ends with a period.
- Access date: optional in MLA 9, but recommended when the page has no date or is likely to change.
When an organization is both the author and the publisher, MLA starts with the title and does not repeat the organization as author. This guide in MLA:
“How to Cite a Website in APA and MLA: Rules and Examples.” AnyShift, 12 Oct. 2026, anyshift.online/guides/how-to-cite-a-website-in-apa-and-mla/.
No author, no date or several dates
| Situation | APA 7 | MLA 9 |
|---|---|---|
| Written by an organization | Organization as author; omit the site name if it matches | If it is also the publisher, start with the title |
| No author at all | Move the italic title to the author position | Start with the “Title.” |
| No date | (n.d.) after the author | Leave the date out and add an access date |
| Content designed to change (live data, profiles) | Add “Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL” | Add an access date |
| Published and updated dates | Use the updated date if it applies to the content | Use the date of the version you consulted |
A page with neither an author nor a date looks like this:
APA: Study tips for final exams. (n.d.). Example University Library. https://www.example.org/study-tips
MLA: “Study Tips for Final Exams.” Example University Library, www.example.org/study-tips. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Before deciding there is no author, check the byline, the end of the article and the “About” page. A named organization counts as an author in APA.
In-text citations for websites
| Source | APA 7 parenthetical | APA 7 narrative | MLA 9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| One author | (Patel, 2025) | Patel (2025) | (Patel) |
| Two authors | (Patel & Okafor, 2025) | Patel and Okafor (2025) | (Patel and Okafor) |
| Three or more | (Patel et al., 2025) | Patel et al. (2025) | (Patel et al.) |
| Organization | (AnyShift, 2026) | AnyShift (2026) | (“How to Cite”) |
| No author, no date | (Study Tips for Final Exams, n.d.) | Study Tips for Final Exams (n.d.) | (“Study Tips”) |
In MLA, the in-text citation must match the first word or words of the Works Cited entry, which is why an entry that begins with a title is cited with a shortened title in quotation marks.
Quoting a web page: web pages rarely have page numbers. In APA, add a paragraph number or section name after the year, such as (Patel, 2025, para. 4). In MLA, give no locator unless the source numbers its paragraphs.
APA vs MLA at a glance
| Element | APA 7 | MLA 9 |
|---|---|---|
| Typical subjects | Psychology, education, nursing, business, social sciences | English, literature, languages, humanities |
| List title | References | Works Cited |
| Author names | Surname, initials | Surname, full first name |
| Where the date goes | Right after the author, in parentheses | Near the end, before the URL |
| Page title | Italic, sentence case | “In quotation marks,” title case |
| Website name | Plain text | Italic |
| URL | Full, with https:// | Usually without http(s):// |
| Access date | Only for pages designed to change | Optional; recommended when undated |
APA 7 (2019) and MLA 9 (2021) are the editions most instructors require in 2026, but your syllabus or assignment brief always takes priority.
How to generate a website citation in under a minute
- Open the APA Citation Generator or MLA Citation Generator and choose Website. Separate tabs handle journal articles, books, news articles and YouTube videos.
- Enter authors as “Last, First”, separated by semicolons. The APA version converts first names to initials for you. Leave the field empty if there is no author.
- Paste the page title. The MLA generator applies title case automatically. The APA generator capitalizes the first word and the word after a colon but keeps any capitals you typed, so a title copied in Title Case stays that way. To fix it, run the title through the Text Case Converter with Sentence case, then re-capitalize proper nouns and the first word after a colon.
- Add the year, the month as a number (1–12), the day, the website name and the URL. The MLA version fills in today’s date as the access date, so clear that field if you don’t want one.
- Click Copy citation to paste it into Word or Google Docs with the italics intact, or Add to reference list to build an alphabetized list as you research. Copy all copies the whole list with a hanging indent.
The generators run entirely in your browser, and your saved list stays on your device.
Formatting the References or Works Cited page
- Start the list on a new page at the end of the paper. Title it References (bold, centered) in APA or Works Cited (centered, plain) in MLA.
- Double-space the whole list and use a 0.5-inch hanging indent.
- Alphabetize by the first word of each entry: the author’s surname, or the title when there is no author (ignore A, An and The).
- Hanging indent in Word: select the entries, open the Paragraph dialog from the Home tab, then under Indentation set Special to Hanging, By 0.5”. In Google Docs: Format > Align & indent > Indentation options > Special indent > Hanging.
Most instructors leave the reference list out of the word count. If you need to check the limit, paste only the body text into the Word Counter.
UK and Australia: many universities use Harvard referencing, an author-date style similar to APA. There is no single official Harvard standard, though, and each institution publishes its own version, so follow your university’s guide. US and Canadian schools mostly use APA or MLA, plus Chicago in fields such as history.
FAQ
Do you need an access date when citing a website?
In APA, no, unless the page is designed to change over time, such as a live statistics page; then write “Retrieved October 12, 2026, from” before the URL. In MLA 9 an access date is optional but recommended, especially when the page has no publication date.
How do you cite a website with no author in APA?
Move the page title to the author position: Title of page. (Year, Month Day). Site Name. URL. In the text, use the title in italics and title case with the year, for example (Study Tips for Final Exams, n.d.), shortened if it is long.
Can I use the copyright year at the bottom of the page as the date?
No. The footer copyright year usually reflects the whole site, not the page. Use the publication or last-updated date of the content itself. If there isn’t one, write (n.d.) in APA, or leave the date out and add an access date in MLA.
Do you put a period after the URL?
In APA, no: the reference ends with the URL so that the link is not broken. In MLA, yes: the entry ends with a period after the URL, or after the access date if you include one.
What is the difference between a reference list and a bibliography?
An APA reference list and an MLA Works Cited page include only sources you actually cite in the text. A bibliography, or a “Works Consulted” page in MLA, can also list background reading, but include one only if your instructor asks for it.