A URL slug is the part of a URL that identifies a specific page in a human-readable format. For example, in https://example.com/blog/my-post-title, the slug is "my-post-title". Slugs are typically lowercase with words separated by hyphens.

Why are URL slugs important for SEO?

SEO-friendly slugs improve search engine rankings by including relevant keywords, being readable by users, and providing context about page content. Search engines use URL structure as a ranking signal and display slugs in search results.

What is the difference between a slug and a title?

A title is the human-readable headline of a page, often with mixed case, spaces, and special characters. A slug is a URL-safe version derived from the title: lowercase, spaces replaced with hyphens or underscores, and special characters removed.

What characters should be avoided in slugs?

Avoid spaces (use hyphens), uppercase letters (use lowercase), special characters like &%$#@!~, accented characters (use ASCII equivalents), and punctuation. Only alphanumeric characters and the chosen separator (hyphen/underscore) should remain.

/ /Slug Generator

Slug Generator

Convert titles and text into SEO-friendly URL slugs. Customize separator style, enforce lowercase, and set a maximum length for clean permalinks.

Inputs

Text to Slugify

0 characters

Separator

Lowercase

Max Length

0 = unlimited

Results

Generated Slug

(enter text to generate slug)

Related Tools

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a URL slug?: A URL slug is the part of a URL that identifies a specific page in a human-readable format. For example, in https://example.com/blog/my-post-title, the slug is "my-post-title". Slugs are typically lowercase with words separated by hyphens.
Why are URL slugs important for SEO?: SEO-friendly slugs improve search engine rankings by including relevant keywords, being readable by users, and providing context about page content. Search engines use URL structure as a ranking signal and display slugs in search results.
What is the difference between a slug and a title?: A title is the human-readable headline of a page, often with mixed case, spaces, and special characters. A slug is a URL-safe version derived from the title: lowercase, spaces replaced with hyphens or underscores, and special characters removed.
What characters should be avoided in slugs?: Avoid spaces (use hyphens), uppercase letters (use lowercase), special characters like &%$#@!~, accented characters (use ASCII equivalents), and punctuation. Only alphanumeric characters and the chosen separator (hyphen/underscore) should remain.
Should I use hyphens or underscores in slugs?: Hyphens (-) are strongly recommended for SEO. Google treats hyphens as word separators but does not treat underscores as separators. Hyphens are also more readable in URLs for human users.
What is a canonical URL?: A canonical URL specifies the preferred version of a page when multiple URLs access the same content. For example, /blog/post-title and /blog/post-title?ref=home should canonically point to one version to prevent duplicate content issues.
What are permalinks?: Permalinks are permanent URLs intended to remain unchanged for the lifetime of a page. Content management systems like WordPress use permalink structures (e.g., /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/) that include the slug for readability.
How do content management systems handle slugs?: WordPress auto-generates slugs from post titles with an option to customize. Shopify, Squarespace, and other CMS platforms follow similar patterns. Most CMS tools automatically sanitize slugs by lowercasing, removing special chars, and replacing spaces.
What is slug length best practice?: Keep slugs under 60 characters for optimal SEO. Search engines display only the first 45-60 characters of a URL in search results. Shorter slugs are easier to read, share, and remember while still being descriptive.
How do I handle non-ASCII characters in slugs?: Non-ASCII characters should be transliterated to their ASCII equivalents. For example, "café" becomes "cafe" and "über" becomes "uber". This ensures compatibility across all browsers, servers, and URL standards.
Can slugs contain numbers?: Yes, slugs can contain numbers. In WordPress, duplicate post titles are disambiguated by appending a number (e.g., my-post and my-post-2). However, date-based slugs like /2024/01/post-title are less common for evergreen content.
What is the difference between slug and URL path?: The slug is the final segment of the URL path that describes the content. The URL path includes the full hierarchy (e.g., /blog/category/post-slug). The slug is just "post-slug", while the path includes everything after the domain.
Should I change slugs after publishing?: Changing slugs after publishing breaks existing links and causes 404 errors. If you must change a slug, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This preserves search rankings and ensures users with old links find the page.
What are stop words in slugs?: Stop words are common words like "a", "an", "the", "and", "or", "but", "in", "on", "at", "to", "for", "of", "with". Many slug generators remove stop words to create shorter, cleaner URLs while preserving the essential keywords.