APA 7th Edition Website Citation Format
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0 sourcesAPA 7th Edition Website Citation Format lists a webpage as: Author last name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Site Name. URL. In-text, cite the author and year, for example (Grady, 2019), with no page number for whole-site sources.
What is the APA 7th edition website citation format?
A webpage reference has four ordered elements: author, date, title, and source. The pattern is Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Site Name. URL. The page title is italicised, the site name is not, and the URL closes the entry with no full stop after it.
| Element | Rule |
|---|---|
| Author | Invert names: last name, then initials. Use a group name (e.g., Pew Research Center) if no person is credited. |
| Date | Give the full publication date in parentheses: (2019, June 12). Use (n.d.) when no date is shown. |
| Title | Italicise the page title in sentence case — capitalise only the first word and proper nouns. |
| Source | Add the website (site) name, then the URL. Omit the site name when it is identical to the author. |
What does each part of the citation mean?
- Author — surname first, then initials, ending with a full stop.
- Date — full year, month, and day in parentheses.
- Title — italic, sentence case, followed by a full stop.
- Source — the website name, not italicised.
- URL — the live link, with no closing full stop.
What are real APA website citation examples?
The examples below cover the situations you meet most: an individual author, a group author, and a page where the author equals the site. Copy any line into your reference list and swap in your own details.
Individual authorGrady, J. S. (2019, June 12). Emotion regulation in early childhood. Child Development Institute. https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/emotion-regulation
Group authorPew Research Center. (2021, April 7). Social media use in 2021. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021
Author = site nameWorld Health Organization. (2022, September 14). Mental health. https://www.who.int/health-topics/mental-health
News-style webpageRoberts, N. (2023, February 3). How sleep shapes memory. BBC Science Focus. https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/how-sleep-shapes-memory
When the author and the site name are the same, as with the World Health Organization example, list the author once and omit the site name to avoid repetition. For group authors, no initials are needed.
How do you cite a website in-text in APA 7?
APA uses author–date in-text citations. Name the author and the year, either in a parenthetical citation or a narrative sentence. Whole webpages carry no page number, so you cite only the author and year for a general reference to the page.
| Reference author | Parenthetical | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| Grady, J. S. | (Grady, 2019) | Grady (2019) |
| Pew Research Center | (Pew Research Center, 2021) | Pew Research Center (2021) |
| No author (use title) | (“Emotion Regulation,” 2019) | The article “Emotion Regulation” (2019) |
To quote directly from a webpage with no page numbers, point readers to the section heading or paragraph, for example (Grady, 2019, para. 4). A group author may be abbreviated after the first citation: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2022), then (WHO, 2022).
How do you cite a website with no date or no author?
When a page shows no publication date, use (n.d.), meaning “no date,” in both the reference and the in-text citation. When no author is credited, move the page title into the author position and keep the same element order.
No dateNational Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Anxiety disorders. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders
No authorUnderstanding APA citation basics. (2021, March 9). Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style
With no author, the in-text citation uses a shortened title in title case: (“Understanding APA Citation,” 2021). With no date, write (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.).
When do you add a retrieval date?
Most webpages do not need a retrieval date. Add one only when the content is designed to change over time and is not archived — for example a live statistics dashboard, a dictionary entry, or a social media profile. Stable articles and reports never take a retrieval date.
Changing contentU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (n.d.). Databases, tables & calculators by subject. Retrieved July 18, 2026, from https://www.bls.gov/data
The phrase Retrieved [Month Day, Year], from sits directly before the URL. Use it sparingly; for a normal news article or report, the publication date alone is enough.
How accurate is this format, and what are the limits?
These rules match the 7th-edition Publication Manual and the official APA Style webpage guidance, which is the standard most universities require. The webpage template applies to a page on a larger site — it is not the right template for every online source, so judgement still matters.
- Journal articles, e-books, reports, and datasets have their own APA templates; do not force them into the webpage format.
- Content on Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms uses dedicated social-media formats with the post text as the title.
- Wikipedia entries use an archived-version URL and a retrieval date because the pages change.
- Always confirm the author, date, and site name against the live page; automated tools can misread group authors or missing dates.
When in doubt, follow your instructor’s or journal’s specific requirements, which can override general style rules.
Frequently asked questions
Short, direct answers to the most common APA 7th edition website questions.