Website vs. web site?
Why website (one word) is better than web site (two words.)
SEO Tip: Do not use AP Stylebook rules if they don't mesh with your targeted audience. AP Stylebook are guidelines adopted for media purposes; they are not the standards for the English language taught in school
AP Stylebook: Web site, because "Style," in the sense we're talking about, really means a preference (in spelling or punctuation or capitalization or usage) when there is a choice to be made. AP made the choice of "Web site" for what we thought were very good, language-based, reasons.
Merriam-Webster: Web site (offers no explanation as to why.)
Oxford Dictionary: The revised 11th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, published in July 2004, shows website as the standard form, and Oxford states that all future dictionaries will reflect this. Additionally, they state: "We recommend capital initials for Internet, World Wide Web, the Web, but not for individual sites."
Wikipedia: website (or web site.)
White House: For fun, I visited the official White House site and "we the people" use web site on their website (at least there is no "capital" in "web" at the "Capitol."
The Great Website vs. Web Site Debate
By Lahle Wolfe | For reprint information on this article visit our Media Center
Should I use website, or web site?
The Noncommittal Answer: There is no gold standard and it is generally considered acceptable to choose based on your audience, target market, and your own personal preferences. However, whether you chose website or web site, be consistent. But, if your goal to be more appealing to Google, and follow popular trends, use one word: website.
The Philosophical Answer: I help support my caffeine habit (and a child in college) as a paid columnist for a New York Times' owned site for Women in Business. By day (and often into the wee hours of my caffeinated nights) I SEO my little heart out and micro obsess over words that will help or hinder search engine optimization. Website vs. web site was once one of my keyword obsessions.
As my 14-year-old would say, "whatever." What does that have to do with website vs. web site? Well, frankly, nothing except to demonstrate that it is important to differentiate between the real world (where people use English by the book) and the journalistic world in which the use of AP Stylebook is required (where rules are made up based on pure preference.)
For those who are interested, on my own business sites I use "website" but when writing for the press I do submit to AP and go with (ick) "web site." Why? Because I use what is best in the moment based on my audience and SEO goals (and the demands of editors.)
Bottom Line Answer: In most cases, "real world" English makes more SEO sense than "AP Stylebook world."
AP Style vs. The Real World
There are two different worlds and two different lines of thought out there and it all depends upon which hat you are wearing when deciding whether or not you should use "website" as one word or "web site" as two words. (Actually, there are three schools of thought if we count the folks who wish to also capitalize "Web site," but let's not because I think it is silly - apologies to AP Stylebook fans.")
As a professional writer I naturally (even if sometimes reluctantly) must defer to AP Stylebook to appease my New York Times paycheck gods. But I do want to point out that AP Stylebook is a media-preferred set of style guidelines adopted by a media-oriented organization for media-seeking people and should not be relied on as a scholarly reference manual for all industries, or, even for the non-media-writing general public.
Clear examples of style differences can be seen between legal writing, technical writing, and even the good ole' college thesis. AP Stylebook guidelines simply do not apply well here, and nor do they on non-news websites.
The world is becoming dehyphenated and we all need to face it. "Meta data" has married and become one, "metadata" (even if "meta tags" is still uncommitted and remains two separate words), and I see far more newer instances of "email" than "e-mail," and I like it (even if AP hates it.) "Key words" has also become one: use "keywords" until death do they part.