Key:website

website
Description
Specifies the link to the official website for a feature.
Group: annotations
URL pattern
$1
Used on these elements
Useful combination
name=*
See also
website:*=* contact:website=* contact:*=* url=* image=* wikipedia=* wikidata=*
Status: de facto
website=* More details at taginfo
Tools for this tag
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The website=* tag is used to provide the full URL to the official website for the related feature.

Format

Website URLs usually follow the syntax:

http(s)://(www.)domain.tld(/)(page)(?parameters)(#anchor), where parts in parenthesis may be optional.

Example

website=https://www.openstreetmap.org - validly formatted direct link to a trustworthy website.

Best practices

Durability and machine-readability

• Choose simple URLs over complex URLs if they point to the same content. For example, use website=https://bahn.de instead of website=https://www.bahn.de/p/view/index.shtml, as both will get you to the front page. Websites are frequently redesigned, so strive for the most "robust" URL that works.

• Choose specific URLs over homepages. For example, use website=https://www.islandbuses.info/services/SVCT/8 instead of website=https://www.islandbuses.info/. Consider brand:website=*, network:website=*, or operator:website=* if you want to store a URL for those.

• Include the scheme (http or https) explicitly. For example, use website=https://www.openstreetmap.org.

• Consider  percent-encoding some special characters in the URL, especially if the URL contains a semicolon ; which should be replaced with %3B to prevent ambiguity with multiple semicolon-delimited values.

• Take care when copying links from a search engine result. Search results URLs hide information about the final destination of the link, and are not meant for permanent linking. https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s...

• Prefer websites with domain names. URLs containing IP addresses tend to become outdated more quickly than URLs with domain names and are far less recognizable. This Sophox query finds websites at IPv4 addresses.

Usability

• If the official website is available in multiple languages depending on the URL, link to the version in the locally appropriate language or the language-neutral version. (Some websites automatically redirect to the user's language if you omit a language code from the URL.)

• website=* is only for official websites, not for general web links. Use wikipedia=* for Wikipedia articles. Social media profiles are tagged using contact:*=* keys: contact:mastodon=*, contact:facebook=*, contact:twitter=*, etc. If a social media web presence is the only web presence of the feature, some prefer to also list the URL using website=* to indicate that no other official website exists. (Do not use bulk edits to "deduplicate" the website and contact tags)

Privacy and security

• Use the HTTPS version when available, as it enhances security and privacy for users. E.g.: website=https://www.openstreetmap.org instead of website=http://www.openstreetmap.org

• Remove any tracking parameters (mc_id, utm_source, utm_medium, utm_term, utm_content, utm_campaign, (and other utm_*), fbclid, gclid, campaign_ref, gclsrc, dclid, WT.tsrc, wt.tsrc, zanpid, yclid, igshid etc.). For example, something like http://paris.intersquat.org/les-lieux/le-satellite/?fbclid=de58e340d6aa79a584552a2055042d004b9b19454bc0d7a6046fc81fc90f51 should be replaced by http://paris.intersquat.org/les-lieux/le-satellite/
  • This Sophox query detects privacy-invasive tracking identifiers within URLs in several common keys.
  • This taginfo listing shows occurrences of "fbclid" in tag values regardless of the key.
  • This slower Overpass query is similar to the taginfo listing but takes much longer.

• Never use URL shorteners. URLs such as https://goo.gl/x1fz3h should not be used as they hide the real URL and may contain advertisements or malware.

Namespace values

Suffixed

An excerpt of some most used tags:

LOADING TAG LIST...

Prefixed

This table lists out documented keys only. They represent some known usage as seen in the wild.

Key	Value	Element	Comment	Statistics
website:menu=*	URL		Used to link to URL with menu information of e.g. a restaurant
website:stock	URL		Used to link to URL with "live" stock information of e.g. a shop or pharmacy
website:map	URL		Used to link to external maps e.g. in route relations.
website:booking	URL		Used to link to booking website.
website:orders	URL		Used to link to a website to order goods or services from a feature.
user defined	URL		All commonly used values according to Taginfo.

Other keys

• *:url=* - URL scheme
• image=* - URL to an image

See also

• website:*=* - direct link to a sub-menu (menu, booking)
• contact:*=* - The contact:* namespace with contact:website=* (newest parallel existing tagging scheme, provides same tag arrangement in groups like addr:*=*) (Includes contact:facebook=*, contact:twitter=*, etc.)
• url=* - A more general tag. Any URL other than the main official one used in the website=* tag (parallel existing tagging scheme)
• image=* - Reference to an image of the object
• wikipedia=* - Links to Wikipedia articles.
• Proposed features/External links - different tagging ideas
• Keepright ([1]) - validates the content of website tags, ensuring they still match the OSM object.
• tag2link plugin - JOSM plugin that opens external references, e.g. this website key

References

• RFC 1738 section 2 generic URL syntax
• RFC 1738 section 3.1 common Internet scheme syntax - the definition of the http and https URL schemes base on this
• RFC 1738 section 3.3 The http URL scheme
• RFC 2818 section 2.4 The https URL scheme