How to Write SEO-Friendly URL Slugs
A URL slug is the last part of a web address that identifies a specific page. In https://example.com/blog/seo-friendly-url-slugs, the slug is "seo-friendly-url-slugs". A clear slug helps people understand where a link leads and gives search engines a small extra hint about the topic. This guide shows how to write good slugs and how to avoid breaking links when you change one.
Why slugs matter
Slugs are not a major ranking factor, but they improve usability. A readable URL is easier to trust, easier to share, and easier to remember. It also tends to appear in search results and in the text people copy when they link to you.
Best practices
- Keep it short. Three to six meaningful words is usually enough.
- Use your main keyword. Include the topic of the page, but do not force it.
- Use lowercase letters. Mixed case can create duplicate versions of the same page on some servers.
- Separate words with hyphens. Search engines read hyphens as word separators. Underscores are treated less reliably.
- Remove filler words. Words such as "a", "the" and "of" can often go.
- Avoid special characters. Skip spaces, accents, symbols and punctuation, which become messy encoded text.
- Avoid dates unless needed. A year in the slug makes content look old when the year passes.
Good and bad examples
Bad: /blog/post?id=4827&cat=12
Good: /blog/meta-description-length
Bad: /blog/The_Complete_And_Ultimate_Guide_To_Writing_A_Perfect_Meta_Description_In_2026
Good: /blog/write-meta-descriptions
Bad: /Tools/Word Counter
Good: /tools/word-counter
Create a slug in seconds
Typing slugs by hand invites mistakes. Paste any title into our Slug Generator and it will lowercase the text, remove symbols, and join the words with hyphens. Always read the result and trim it if it is still too long.
How to change a slug safely
Try to get slugs right before publishing, because changing a live URL can lose traffic and links. If you must change one, set up a 301 redirect from the old address to the new one so visitors and search engines are sent to the right place. Then update your internal links and your sitemap, and avoid changing slugs for pages that already rank well unless there is a strong reason.
Conclusion
A good slug is short, lowercase, hyphenated and descriptive. Set it once, keep it stable, and your URLs will stay clean and trustworthy. For a full list of page basics, see our On-Page SEO Checklist for Beginners.