Web4 min read
What is a URL Slug and Why Does It Matter for SEO
URL slugs are the human-readable part of a web address. Getting them right impacts your SEO, click-through rates, and user experience.
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Generate slugs instantly
Use our free Slug Generator — converts any text to a URL-safe slug instantly.
What is a URL slug?
A slug is the part of a URL that identifies a specific page in a human-readable format. It comes after the domain name and any subdirectories.
https://devutilsonline.in/blog/what-is-a-url-slug
Good vs bad slugs
✓ Good
what-is-a-url-slug✗ Bad
What Is A URL Slug?Lowercase, hyphens, no special chars
✓ Good
json-formatter-online✗ Bad
post?id=12345Descriptive, keyword-rich
✓ Good
password-security-guide✗ Bad
page1/article/2024/03/14Short and meaningful
Slug best practices
- ✓Use lowercase letters only
- ✓Replace spaces with hyphens
- ✓Remove special characters and punctuation
- ✓Keep it short — under 5 words ideally
- ✓Include your target keyword
- ✓Never use underscores — use hyphens instead
- ✓Avoid stop words like 'the', 'a', 'and'
Generate slugs in JavaScript
function generateSlug(text) {
return text
.toLowerCase()
.trim()
.replace(/[^\w\s-]/g, '')
.replace(/[\s_-]+/g, '-')
.replace(/^-+|-+$/g, '');
}
generateSlug("What is a URL Slug?")
// "what-is-a-url-slug"