What is a slug?
A slug is the readable part of a web address that identifies a page: in example.com/blog/how-to-merge-pdf, the slug is how-to-merge-pdf. Good slugs help people and search engines understand a page before they open it.
Rules for SEO-friendly slugs
- Short and descriptive: 3–6 words is plenty.
- Lower case with hyphens. Google treats hyphens as word separators; underscores join words together.
- Include the main keyword, the phrase people search for.
- Drop filler words like “the”, “a” and “of” when the slug still reads naturally.
- Avoid dates unless the page is about a specific year, so the address stays valid when you update it.
Examples
| Title | Slug |
|---|---|
| How to Calculate Your CGPA: A Step-by-Step Guide | how-to-calculate-cgpa |
| 10 Best Free PDF Tools for Students (2026) | free-pdf-tools-for-students |
| Café & Résumé Tips | cafe-resume-tips |
Urdu, Arabic and Hindi slugs
Turn on “Keep letters from other alphabets” to keep words in their own script. Browsers show them correctly, though they become long % codes when copied in some apps; see the URL Encoder. Many sites use English slugs even for translated pages for that reason.
Changing an existing slug
Changing a page's address breaks old links. If you must, set up a 301 redirect from the old address to the new one.