đź”— URL Slug Generator
Create SEO-friendly URLs from your page title or any string.
Enter text to analyze slug length
Recommended: 3-5 words, 30-60 characters
How It Works
This tool simplifies creating clean URLs. Enter your text (like a blog post title) into the input field. The generator instantly converts it into a URL-safe string by:
- Converting all characters to lowercase.
- Replacing spaces with your chosen separator (hyphen or underscore).
- Removing any characters that aren't letters, numbers, or the separator.
- Optionally stripping out numbers.
- Truncating to your desired length while preserving word boundaries.
Why SEO-Friendly Slugs Matter
A URL slug is the part of a URL identifying a specific page. A well-crafted slug is crucial for search engines and users.
- Improved Rankings: Including keywords in your slug helps search engines understand the page's topic.
- Better User Experience: Clean, descriptive URLs are easy to read. Users are more likely to click on `/how-to-bake-a-cake` than `/p?id=123`.
- Easy to Share: Readable slugs are more trustworthy when shared on social media or in emails.
Best Practices for URL Slugs
Optimal Length
Aim for 3-5 words or 30-60 characters. Too short slugs lack context, while too long ones get truncated in search results.
Keyword Placement
Place important keywords at the beginning of your slug. Search engines give more weight to words appearing earlier.
Avoid Stop Words
Remove unnecessary words like "a", "the", "and", "or" unless they're crucial for readability or context.
Smart Truncation
Use the truncate feature to maintain clean URLs while ensuring they don't get cut off in search results.
Common Slug Mistakes to Avoid
- Using uppercase letters: URLs are case-sensitive, so stick to lowercase to avoid confusion.
- Including special characters: Characters like &, %, $, and @ can break URLs and cause encoding issues.
- Using dates or IDs: Avoid putting dates (2023/10/15) or database IDs in slugs as they date your content.
- Being too vague: Slugs like "page1" or "post123" provide no context to users or search engines.
- Keyword stuffing: Don't force too many keywords - focus on readability and natural language.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Always use hyphens. Google recommends using hyphens as word separators. Underscores are often treated as word joiners, meaning Google might read `my_page` as `mypage`. For best SEO, stick with hyphens.
You can, but it's not recommended without a proper 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one, or you will lose all SEO value (like backlinks). It's best to get the slug right before publishing.
Ideally, keep your slugs between 3-5 words or 30-60 characters. Search engines may truncate longer URLs in search results, and shorter slugs often lack sufficient context for both users and search algorithms.
Generally, no. Remove common stop words like "a", "an", "the", "and", "or" unless they're essential for readability. This creates cleaner, more concise URLs and may provide a slight SEO benefit.
Use truncation when your generated slug exceeds 60-70 characters. The feature intelligently cuts at the last complete word to maintain readability. This prevents URLs from being cut off in search results while preserving meaning.