<address> Contact information
Contact details for the person or organization behind a page or article.
<address> holds contact information for the nearest article, or for the whole page when it is not inside one. An email link, a phone number, a postal address or social links can all go in it.
The name misleads people. It is not meant for every postal address on a page, only for the contact details of the author or owner. Browsers italicize it by default, and CSS can undo that.
The address element definition (opens in a new tab) limits it to contact information for the nearest article or the whole page. You will usually find it inside a footer.
Syntax
<address>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>
</address>When to use it
Address marks the contact details of whoever is responsible for the page or for an article: a shop's phone number and street address in the site footer, the author's email at the end of a post, a support contact on a help page. Several articles on one page can each have their own.
Other addresses go in a plain <p>, perhaps with <br> between lines. That includes a customer's delivery address in an order summary and the venues in an event list. A "last updated" date belongs in a time element, even when it sits right next to the address.
Headings, sectioning elements, header, footer and nested addresses are all forbidden inside. So a heading like "Contact us" goes directly before the address. If you add structured data for a local business, keep the visible text in step with it; schema.org PostalAddress (opens in a new tab) lists the matching properties.
Live example
Edit the code and watch the preview.
<footer>
<address>
Sunny Bakery, 12 Market Street<br>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><br>
<a href="tel:+15550123456">+1 555 012 3456</a>
</address>
</footer>More examples
Author contact at the end of an article
When address sits inside an article, it gives the contact details for that article's author, not for the whole site. Here it lives in the article's footer and holds a mailto link, so readers can write to the author directly.
<article>
<h2>Five breads to bake this winter</h2>
<p>Short days are perfect for slow, warm baking.</p>
<footer>
<address>
Questions? Write to <a href="mailto:[email protected]">Ana Lopez</a>.
</address>
</footer>
</article>Contact block with a list of links
An address may contain lists and paragraphs. The heading stays outside, just before it. Phone, email and social links are real links, and CSS removes the default italics so the block matches the rest of the page.
<style>
address{font-style:normal}
address ul{padding-left:18px}
</style>
<h2>Contact us</h2>
<address>
<p>Sunny Bakery, 12 Market Street, Springfield</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="tel:+15550123456">+1 555 012 3456</a></li>
<li><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></li>
<li><a href="https://social.example/sunnybakery">Follow us online</a></li>
</ul>
</address>Tip: address is for the owner's contact details. Other addresses are plain text.
Browser support
Every browser has supported address since the early days of HTML, and they render it in italics by default. Beyond that it does very little. Assistive technology sees a simple group with no special behaviour, so phone numbers and emails only become links if you write them as links.
Accessibility
Turn email addresses and phone numbers into real mailto: and tel: links, so people can tap them instead of copying text. The tel: scheme is defined in RFC 3966 (opens in a new tab).
Common mistakes
Wrong
<p>The concert is at <address>12 Park Road</address>.</p>Right
<p>The concert is at 12 Park Road.</p>address is reserved for the contact details of the page or article owner, and it may not sit inside a p.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use the address tag for any postal address?
No. <address> is for contact information about its nearest <article> or the whole document, such as the author's email or the company's contact details. A venue mentioned in an event description is ordinary text in a normal <p>. If you want search engines to read a postal address, mark it up with schema.org PostalAddress (opens in a new tab).