Writing & StyleStyle guide

Are Website Titles Italicized?

MLA treats a website title as the title of an independent work and italicizes it; the web address or URL itself is not the title and is normally set in roman type. Distinguish the website title from an individual webpage title and from the site’s web address; other style systems may specify different treatment.

Quick answer

In MLA style, italicize the title of a website, but do not italicize a URL merely because it points to that site.

Key details

Core Issuehow to style the title of a website rather than its URL
Registeracademic, edited, and style-governed writing
RuleMLA treats a website title as the title of an independent work and italicizes it; the web address or URL itself is not the title and is normally set in roman type.

Important caveats

Scope Boundary

Distinguish the website title from an individual webpage title and from the site’s web address; other style systems may specify different treatment.

Further guidance

Recommendation

In MLA style, italicize the title of a website, but do not italicize a URL merely because it points to that site.

Sources and evidence

Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.

  1. How should I style a web address like google.com? (opens in a new tab)Modern Language Association · MLA guidance distinguishing a website title from its URL and styling a website title as an independent work in italics.

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