How to Create a Good URL Slug
Last updated 2026-09-11
A URL slug is the readable part of a web address that identifies a specific page — a clean slug helps both users and search engines understand what a page is about at a glance.
Use lowercase letters and hyphens
Hyphens are treated as word separators by search engines; underscores and mixed case are not, and can cause inconsistent behavior.
Keep it short but descriptive
Include the core keyword or topic, and drop unnecessary filler words ("a", "the", "of") when they don't add clarity.
Avoid special characters and accents
Stick to a–z, 0–9, and hyphens — special characters and diacritics can cause encoding issues across different systems.
Example
"How to Calculate Percentage!" becomes the slug "how-to-calculate-percentage".
Important Considerations
- Avoid changing a slug once a page is indexed and has traffic — it breaks existing links and requires a redirect to preserve SEO value.
- Dates in slugs (like /2024/03/) can make evergreen content look outdated — only include them when the date is genuinely relevant.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Should I use hyphens or underscores in a slug?
- Hyphens — search engines treat a hyphen as a word separator, but generally do not treat an underscore the same way, which can hurt keyword matching.
- How long should a slug be?
- Short enough to stay readable and memorable — there's no strict limit, but concise, keyword-relevant slugs tend to perform better than long, wordy ones.