In SEO discussions, the term “slug” comes up frequently. Rest assured, it has nothing to do with the small, slimy creatures. Instead, it refers to an important part of a webpage’s URL.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about URL slugs – what they are, how to optimize them, and why they matter.
Let’s dive in!
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What Is a URL Slug?
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator), often referred to as a website slug, is a unique identifier for a webpage. Every page has its own distinct URL, and no two identical URLs can exist simultaneously.
For example, the URL address of one of our blog posts is:
https://grindinteractive.com/lms-building-a-learning-management-system-with-wordpress/
The last part /lms-building-a-learning-management-system-with-wordpress/ is the slug of the URL, while the URL is the entire address you see.
URL Slug for SEO: Why Is It Important?
The URL slug contributes significantly to the overall user experience. While it may not be a top-ranking factor, Google has confirmed that URLs are one of many elements considered in their ranking algorithm.
Including your target keyword in the URL slug is a good practice, but we’ll get into that shortly.
First, let’s focus on the user experience. Which URL do you think provides a better experience for users:
- https://yourwebsite.com/12345678
- https://yourwebsite.com/what-are-url-slugs
It’s clear that the second option is more appealing, as it gives a clear idea of the page’s content without needing to click. In contrast, the first URL is generic, leaving users to guess what the page is about.
5 URL Slug Best Practices
- Include Your Target Keyword
- Keep It Short and Concise
- Consider Future Relevance
- Adhere to Readability Standards
- Update Your Existing Slugs
1. Incorporate Your Target Keyword
The most effective way to optimize your URL slug for SEO is to incorporate your target keyword—simple and straightforward.
In addition to enhancing your search engine optimization, this approach also improves user experience, allowing visitors to quickly understand the content of your page just by looking at the URL.
2. Keep It Brief and Clear
One of the best practices for URLs is to keep your slug short and straightforward. A concise slug is essential because if it’s too lengthy, it may get truncated in the SERP preview (similar to long page titles). While this isn’t a disaster, it can negatively impact the user experience.
Straightforward, because a slug should act like a road sign, conveying only the most essential information. Imagine seeing a road sign that reads: “Hello, friend, you are 241 miles (387.85 km) away from Sofia, so drive safely, and have a good day.” What would you think?
Exactly! You wouldn’t be able to read more than a few words from that sign while driving by. The same principle applies to users searching for information online. If your URL is too lengthy, it won’t capture anyone’s attention, rendering it ineffective.
3. Think About the Future
Do you know why numbers work well in page titles but not in slugs?
For instance, suppose your page is titled “10 Best Project Management Tools in 2024,” and your slug mirrors that: /10-best-project-management-tools-2024.
Do you see any issues with that? Now, imagine a year has passed, and it’s 2025. You decide to update the page and, after some research, discover new tools to include. You update the title to “15 Best Project Management Tools in 2025.”
However, the slug remains unchanged—you can’t modify it once it’s created. Now, you’re faced with two options.
Option 1: Keep the old slug. The downside is that it will appear outdated and misleading, as it still shows the previous year and states “14 Best” when you’ve now featured “18 Best.”
Option 2: Redirect. A redirect can resolve this issue by forwarding your old URL to the new one, preserving the page’s content. Redirects are useful and perfectly acceptable, as long as you don’t overuse them. Excessive redirects can lead to performance problems on your website, including errors and slow loading times.
Ultimately, it’s best to avoid using numbers in your slugs. This choice can save you a lot of work and headaches down the line.
4. Adhere to Readability Standards
There’s a reason slugs are structured in a specific way, such as /url-slug-structure.
What are the readability standards?
- Avoid using special characters and emojis
- Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_)
- Stick to lowercase letters, avoiding capitalization
- Separate words (e.g., /url-slug-structure) rather than combining them (e.g., /urlslugstructure)
These guidelines are designed for optimal readability. They represent a proven methodology, so it’s best not to experiment or make changes that could negatively impact user experience or SEO.
5. Update Your Old Slugs
Throughout our lives, we continually learn and improve. You may have launched your website without much knowledge of effective URL slug practices, and that’s perfectly fine.
The best course of action is to update your old slugs to align with current standards. However, avoid trying to update every single slug at once, as this can be risky and may harm your search engine rankings.
Instead, start by optimizing a few low-performing pages. Monitor their performance after the updates, and if you don’t see any significant drawbacks, proceed with optimizing a few more.
That said, don’t feel compelled to do this at all costs. If you’re concerned about losing rankings, links, and traffic, it’s better to leave the existing slugs as they are and apply the best practices to your future pages.
Examples of Well-Optimized URLs
Now, let us recap what we have learned, and summarize how a properly optimized URL should look with a few examples.
1. Marketing psychology. Here’s the perfect slug in action. As you can see, the title is lengthy, and includes a number, however the slug just states “marketing psychology”, which is the target keyword. Less is more.
2. ChatGPT Alternatives. Another great example of a perfect slug. Again, it only features the target keyword. While there is a number, and the current year in the title, the person in charge of publishing followed the best practices, and did not include those in the slug.
3. Writing Tips: This is another great URL slug. The target key phrase is included—nothing more, nothing less. The page title also contains a number and some extra words to engage the reader, but these are absent from the slug. This approach allows for easy updates to the post, as the slug is designed to remain relevant over time.
URL Slugs and WordPress
WordPress excels at simplifying various tasks, including setting your URL preferences. Here’s how to do it:
- Open your WordPress dashboard.
- Navigate to “Settings” and click on “Permalinks.”
- Choose the fifth option from the top: “Post name.”
- WordPress will then automatically generate slugs based on your post titles.
- You can edit these post slugs as needed.
There are two methods for manually editing your slugs. The first is through the post settings on the right side when you edit or create a new post. The second method involves using your SEO plugin, such as Yoast.
Just scroll down to the Yoast SEO block, and you can enter your custom slug in the “Slug” field, like this:
It doesn’t get any simpler than this, right?
Summary
A URL slug serves as a unique identifier for each web page. More importantly, slugs play a vital role in SEO.
When creating your slugs, make sure to follow best practices: keep them concise, clear, and easy to read. Avoid using numbers, and always include your target keyword.
While it may seem like just a slug, it can significantly increase your website traffic, improve user experience, and make the difference between a click and just an impression.
