Sponsored placement
What Is a URL Slug?
A URL slug is the human-readable part of a web address that identifies a specific page. In the URL https://example.com/blog/how-to-create-utm-links, the slug is how-to-create-utm-links. Slugs are lowercase, use hyphens to separate words, and contain only letters, numbers, and hyphens — no spaces, special characters, or uppercase letters.
A clean, descriptive slug is one of the most straightforward SEO improvements you can make. Search engines use the URL to understand page content, and a slug that matches the page keyword helps confirm topic relevance. A slug like /blog/p?id=2847 tells Google nothing; /blog/utm-tracking-guide is immediately informative.
Good slugs are also easier to share, remember, and type. They appear in search result snippets, social media previews, email links, and browser tabs. A meaningful slug looks professional and gives users confidence they are about to visit the right page before they even click.
- Lowercase only — no uppercase letters
- Hyphens to separate words — not underscores or spaces
- No special characters — remove apostrophes, commas, ampersands, etc.
- Keep slugs short and descriptive — ideally under 60 characters
- Include the primary keyword — it appears in the URL and helps SEO
URL Slug Best Practices for SEO
The most important slug rule is to include the primary keyword. If your page title is "How to Fix 502 Bad Gateway in Node.js and Nginx", the slug should be /how-to-fix-502-bad-gateway-in-nodejs-and-nginx or a shorter version like /fix-502-bad-gateway-nodejs-nginx. Both versions include the keyword and describe the content clearly.
Keep slugs concise. There is no strict length limit, but shorter slugs are easier to read in search results, easier to share, and less likely to wrap in email previews. Drop stop words (the, a, an, in, on, of, for) unless they are needed for readability.
Never change a published URL slug without setting up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. Changing a slug without redirecting breaks existing links, loses any backlinks pointing to the old URL, and signals to search engines that the page is new rather than established. URL stability is a significant SEO asset.
- Include the primary keyword in the slug
- Use hyphens as word separators, not underscores
- Remove stop words (the, a, an, in, of) to keep slugs short
- Keep slugs under 75 characters for best display in search results
- Set 301 redirects when changing any published slug
How This Slug Generator Converts Text
The generator applies transformations in this order: convert the input to lowercase, remove characters that are not letters, numbers, or spaces, trim leading and trailing whitespace, replace one or more spaces with a single hyphen, and remove leading and trailing hyphens from the final output.
Special characters like apostrophes (don't → dont), ampersands (& → and or removed), and accented characters (é → e, ö → o) are either removed or transliterated to their ASCII equivalents depending on the setting. The output is a clean, URL-safe slug ready to copy into your CMS, router config, or API endpoint.
Why marketers use this tool
- Convert any title to a clean URL slug in one click
- Generate SEO-friendly slugs with hyphens and no special characters
- Copy slug output for blog posts, CMS entries, and API routes
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a URL slug?
A URL slug is the human-readable part of a URL that identifies a specific page. In /blog/how-to-create-utm-links, the slug is how-to-create-utm-links. Slugs are lowercase, use hyphens between words, and contain only letters, numbers, and hyphens.
Should I use hyphens or underscores in slugs?
Hyphens. Google treats hyphens as word separators in URLs, meaning how-to-fix reads as three separate words. Underscores are treated as part of the word, meaning how_to_fix reads as one token. Hyphens are the universal standard for URL slugs.
Do URL slugs affect SEO?
Yes, but moderately. A descriptive slug that includes the primary keyword provides a clear relevance signal to search engines and improves the appearance of the URL in search results. Short, clean, keyword-rich slugs consistently outperform long, parameter-filled, or numeric URLs in search rankings.
Can I change a URL slug after publishing?
You can, but you must set up a 301 permanent redirect from the old URL to the new one. Without the redirect, you break existing links, lose backlink equity, and signal to search engines that the old page no longer exists. URL stability matters for SEO — change slugs only when the benefit clearly outweighs the redirect management cost.
What should I do with special characters in slugs?
Remove or transliterate them. Apostrophes are removed (don't → dont). Ampersands are removed or replaced with and. Accented characters are mapped to ASCII equivalents (é → e, ü → u). Numbers are kept. The result should be a clean string of lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.