A URL slug is the part of a web address that appears after the domain name.
It shows the specific page you’re visiting and is usually separated by a slash (“/”) at the end.
For example, in “www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/on-page/what-is-on-page-seo“, the URL slug is “what-is-on-page-seo”.
A typical web address is made up of:
Not so hard, right?
Keep in mind that the category and sub-category are not always used for websites. It depends on the website type and size.
Think of a URL slug as a signpost. It tells users and search engines where they are on the site and gives a quick overview of the page’s content.
But that’s not all…
The URL slug plays an essential role in SEO. Search engines use URL slugs to determine the topic of your content.
It’s one of the first factors that gives them a clue.
Clean and simple URL slugs that include your target keyword are easy for search engines like Google to understand. That’s good for SEO!
It’s essentially a 3 to 4-word summary of your page.
Note: Extra URL parameters like “?utm_source or #sub-heading-3” aren’t part of the URL slug.
These parameters are used for different functions like analytics tracking or page jump links like in a table of contents.
Google separates parameters from slugs and handles them differently.
What Will I Learn?
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the complete web address of the page, while the slug is the last part of the URL and describes the specific page/post.
Let me explain:
When you want to visit a specific website, you type the URL into a web browser. The URL is the complete web address of a page, including the protocol, domain name, categories, and slug.
On the other hand, a slug is just the last part of the URL.
It defines the page within the website.
URL Slugs are important because they are crucial for SEO and user experience.
Slugs help search engines better understand your content. When Googlebot crawls your page, the slug is one of the first things it notes down.
The Google algorithm uses the slug for the context of the page. The more descriptive and simple you make your URLs, the easier it is for Google.
That means a better chance of ranking higher!
But user experience is another important aspect of URL slugs.
Clear and short slugs make it easy for visitors to know what they’re clicking on. This can improve click-through rates online and from the search engine results pages.
I’ve also found that well-crafted URLs improve shareability.
People are more likely to share good content with short and memorable URLs. This is a simple but good way to boost social shares and increase direct traffic.
While slugs are a simple part of SEO, they are also important to get right!
Follow these six best practices to create optimised URL slugs:
Your URLs should typically be 3-4 words.
Data shows that pages with short URLs tend to rank better because search engines favour concise and clear URL structures.
This is also why a silo structure is the best type of website structure for SEO!
Keep your URLs short and focus on creating clear slugs that communicate the page’s content.
Improve the readability of your URL slugs by using hyphens between words.
Instead of yoursite.com/examplepageone, separate the words with hyphens to look like – yoursite.com/example-page-one.
Search engines like Google recognise hyphens as word separators.
Your site visitors will also understand this format, improving your site’s overall user-friendliness.
This is important…
Add relevant keywords into your URL slug. In most cases, your slug should simply be the primary target keyword of your page.
This is an on-page SEO ranking factor!
Making your slug the page’s target keyword will improve your SEO by increasing the relevance of your page to the keyword.
Just make sure you don’t overdo it!
The slug must accurately reflect the content and topic of the page.
Don’t get caught in the trap of adding dates and numbers to your URL slugs.
Your content should be evergreen.
Yes, you will update it from time to time.
But the URL slug should always stay the same, even as you update content.
URLs with dates look outdated because people associate the content with that time. This will decrease your click-thru rates and affect your traffic.
Stop words are words such as “and”, “the”, “of”.
Think of stop words as joining words that make a sentence flow.
When creating slugs, the goal is to make them clean and concise.
Research shows that adding stop words doesn’t benefit SEO at all (and can even have the opposite effect).
So, best practice is to remove them from slugs to make your URLs easier to read and remember.
Every URL slug should clearly and accurately describe the content of the page.
Remember that URLs are one of the first factors that search engines use to determine what your page is about.
The slug should be highly relevant, which is why we recommend making it your primary target keyword.
To change the URL slug in WordPress, click on the page or post you want to change and edit the Permalink section.
Here’s how to do it step-by-step:
Login to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the post or page you want to edit. In the right of the editor, click on “Link” and change it to what you want.
If you use the old WordPress editor, it will be called “Permalink” and displayed right below the title.
Once you’re happy with the new slug, click “OK” and update the page. The URL will change immediately to the new slug.
Remember:
Whenever you update a URL slug, you must create a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL.
Double-check your internal links to ensure they point directly to the new URL. This will help prevent broken links and ensure you maximise link equity.
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