Citing a Website in APA Style (6th Edition) | Format & Examples

This article reflects the APA 6th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 7th edition guidelines.

APA website citations usually include the author, the publication date, the title of the page or article, and the URL. If there is no author, start the citation with the title of the article. If the page is likely to change over time, add a retrieval date.

If you are citing an online version of a print publication (e.g. a newspaper, magazine, or dictionary), use the same format as you would for print, with a URL added at the end.

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Citing an entire website

When you refer to a website in your text without quoting or paraphrasing from a specific part of it, you don’t need a formal citation. Instead, you can just include the URL in parentheses after the name of the site:

One of the most popular social media sites, Instagram (http://instagram.com), allows users to share images and videos.

For this kind of citation, you don’t need to include the website on the reference page. However, if you’re citing a specific page or article from a website, you will need a formal in-text citation and reference list entry.

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How to cite online articles

Various kinds of articles appear online, and how you cite them depends on where the article appears.

Articles from online versions of newspapers and magazines

Articles appearing in online versions of print publications (e.g. newspapers and magazines) are cited like their print versions, but with an added URL. Give the homepage URL instead of the specific article, as the latter is more likely to change over time.

MacGillis, A. (2019, November 11). The case against Boeing. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/

Articles from blogs

Citations of blogs include the words “Blog post” and the article URL. The name of the blog is not included:

Alexander, S. (2019, November 13). Autism and intelligence: Much more than you wanted to know [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://slatestarcodex.com/­2019/­11/­13/­autism-­and-­intelligence-­much-­more-­than-­you-­wanted-­to-­know/

Other online articles

For articles from other websites, including news sites without print equivalents (e.g. BBC News, Reuters), the name of the site is not mentioned, and the URL links directly to the article:

Walker, A. (2019, November 14). Germany avoids recession but growth remains weak. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/­news/­business-­50419127

Websites with no author

When a web page does not list any author, replace the author name with the title of the page or article.

In the APA 6 in-text citation, put the title in quotation marks, and shorten it to the first few words if necessary.

APA website citation (no author)
Format Article Title. (Year, month day). Retrieved from URL
Example Australia fires: ‘Catastrophic’ alerts in South Australia and Victoria. (2019, November 11). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/­news/­world-­australia-­50483410
In-text citation (“Australia fires,” 2019)

Note that if the source is attributed to a specific organization or company, you should use this as the author name instead.

Websites with no date

When a web page or article does not list a publication or revision date, replace the date with “n.d.” (“no date”) in all citations.

If an online source is likely to change over time, it is recommended to include the date on which you accessed it.

APA website citation (no date)
Format Author or Organization Name. (n.d.). Article Title. Retrieved month day, year, from URL
Reference list University of Amsterdam. (n.d.).  About the UvA. Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.uva.nl/­en/­about-­the-­uva/­about-­the-­university/­about-­the-­university.html
In-text citation (University of Amsterdam, n.d.)

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How to cite from social media

7th edition updates

Since the 6th edition of the APA manual does not provide guidelines for citing from social media, the information in this section follows the 7th edition.

As social media posts are usually untitled, use the first 20 words of the post, in italics, as a title. Also include any relevant information about the type of post and any multimedia aspects (e.g. videos, images, sound) in square brackets:

Eno, B. (2019, September 21). Last night an immersive arts installation by VOICES FOR THE FUTURE was shown at the UN Headquarters, NY. [Images attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://bit.ly/2XfDB4Q

On some social media sites, users go by usernames instead of or in addition to their real names. Where the author’s real name is known, include it, along with their username in square brackets:

Dorsey, J. [@jack]. (2018, March 1). We’re committing Twitter to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation, and to hold ourselves publicly [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/­jack/­status/­969234275420655616

In some cases, you’ll want to cite a whole social media profile instead of a specific post. In these cases, include an access date, because a profile will obviously change over time:

Dorsey, J. [@jack]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter profile]. Twitter. Retrieved November 14, 2019, from https://twitter.com/jack

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Caulfield, J. (2022, June 16). Citing a Website in APA Style (6th Edition) | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/6th-edition/archived-cite-a-website/

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Jack Caulfield

Jack is a Brit based in Amsterdam, with an MA in comparative literature. He writes for Scribbr about his specialist topics: grammar, linguistics, citations, and plagiarism. In his spare time, he reads a lot of books.