What Is a URL Slug? (And How to Write a Good One)

By the Tool Goodie Team · Updated July 4, 2026 · 4 min read

A URL slug is the readable part of a web address that identifies a specific page — usually the text after the last slash. For a post titled "How to Brew the Perfect Coffee," the slug might be how-to-brew-the-perfect-coffee, making the full URL clean, memorable, and descriptive. Here's what a slug is, why it matters for SEO, and how to write a good one.

Key takeaways

The slug is the page-identifying part of a URL, usually after the last slash.
Good slugs are short, lowercase, hyphenated, and keyword-rich.
Use hyphens (not underscores) and avoid spaces, accents, and symbols.
Turn any title into a clean slug with the slug generator.

Where the slug sits in a URL

Take this address: https://example.com/blog/how-to-brew-coffee. The bold part is the slug — the human-readable label for that specific page. Everything before it (the domain and folders) locates the site and section; the slug names the page itself. A clean slug tells both people and search engines what the page is about before they even click.

Why slugs matter for SEO

The URL is a small but real ranking and usability signal:

Relevance. A slug that includes your target keyword reinforces what the page is about.
Click-through. Clean, descriptive URLs look more trustworthy in search results than long strings of numbers and symbols.
Shareability. A readable slug is easier to share, remember, and link to.

Compare /blog/how-to-brew-coffee with /blog/?p=8412 — the first tells you exactly what you'll get.

Create a clean slug: the free Slug Generator turns any title into a tidy, URL-safe slug — lowercase, hyphenated, with accents simplified and symbols removed.

How to write a good slug

Keep it short. A few meaningful words beat a full sentence. Trim filler like "a," "the," and "how to" if it's still clear.
Use lowercase and hyphens. Separate words with hyphens — Google reads them as spaces. Avoid underscores, which it treats as joiners.
Include your keyword. Put the term people search for in the slug.
Drop special characters. Spaces, accents, and symbols get percent-encoded into ugly strings like %20. Stick to letters, numbers, and hyphens.
Set it once. Changing a published slug breaks existing links, so pick a good one up front (or set up a redirect if you must change it).

Frequently asked questions

What is a URL slug?

A URL slug is the readable part of a web address that identifies a specific page, usually the text after the last slash. For a post titled "How to Brew Coffee" the slug might be how-to-brew-coffee.

What makes a good SEO-friendly slug?

Keep it short and descriptive, use lowercase letters with hyphens between words, include your main keyword, and drop filler words. Avoid spaces, accents and special characters.

Should I use hyphens or underscores in a slug?

Use hyphens. Google treats hyphens as word separators but underscores as joiners, so word-separated slugs read better to both search engines and people.