The pattern

Author/Organisation (Year) Title of page. Available at: URL (Accessed: day month year).

Three things make websites different from books: the organisation often replaces the author, the URL is included, and the accessed date is mandatory — pages change, so your reader needs to know which version you saw.

Worked examples

Government / organisation page

Central Statistics Office (2026) Census of population 2026. Available at: https://www.cso.ie/census (Accessed: 21 August 2026).

News article online

Byrne, A. (2026) Budget 2027: what to expect. Available at: https://www.rte.ie/news/budget-2027 (Accessed: 21 August 2026).

Page with no date

Health Service Executive (no date) Minding your mental health. Available at: https://www2.hse.ie/mental-health (Accessed: 21 August 2026).

The in-text citations follow the usual author–date pattern: (Central Statistics Office, 2026), (Byrne, 2026), (Health Service Executive, no date). Full rules with examples in our in-text citation guide.

Finding the details on a real page

  • Author: the by-line on articles and blogs; for corporate and government pages, the organisation is the author.
  • Year: the published or last-updated date, usually at the top or bottom of the page. Only the year goes in the brackets. Nothing anywhere? Use “no date”.
  • Title: the page’s main heading, in italics, sentence case.
  • URL: the full address of the specific page — not the homepage, not a shortened link.

Three mistakes markers see weekly

  1. Citing Google. Google is where you found the source, not the source. Cite the page you actually read.
  2. Missing accessed date. The single most common error on website references — and the easiest marks to keep.
  3. Whole-site references. “www.hse.ie” tells your reader nothing. Reference the specific page with its specific title.

Or skip the formatting entirely: the free generator has a website mode that handles authors, organisations, missing dates and accessed dates — and keeps your whole list alphabetised.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Harvard format for a website?

Author or organisation (Year) Title of page in italics. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). Example: Central Statistics Office (2026) Census of population 2026. Available at: https://www.cso.ie/census (Accessed: 21 August 2026).

Why do websites need an accessed date?

Because web pages change and disappear. The accessed date tells your reader which version of the page you used — books and journal articles don’t need one because they don’t change after publication.

What if the web page has no author?

Use the organisation that publishes the site (HSE, Revenue, RTÉ). If there’s genuinely no author or organisation, the title moves into the author position. A page with no author, no organisation and no date is usually a source you shouldn’t be citing in academic work.

Do I reference a whole website or a specific page?

Almost always the specific page you used — with that page’s title and URL. Referencing a whole site is only right when you’re discussing the site itself (e.g. analysing how cso.ie presents data).