Permalink
Also called: stable URL, permanent link, canonical URL
A URL the publisher undertakes to keep working, as opposed to a session, search, or tracking URL that will rot.
Cite the permalink, not whatever is in your address bar. Search-result URLs, proxied library links, and URLs carrying session tokens or campaign parameters break for anyone but you. Publishers usually expose the stable form near the article — “cite this”, “permalink”, or a DOI.
Where a page has no permalink and matters to your argument, an archived snapshot is a defensible fallback, cited as an archived version with the capture date. That is a common practice for citing web content in law and journalism.
Do it on CitationEasy
See also
DOI (Digital Object Identifier)A permanent identifier for a document — usually a journal article — that resolves to its current location no matter how many times the publisher moves it.Handle / persistent URIA persistent identifier issued by a repository, of which the DOI is the best-known implementation.Access dateThe date you viewed an online source, recorded when the content is liable to change or carries no publication date.