URL slug
A URL slug is the final, human-readable part of a URL after the last slash that identifies the page and can include keywords.
In example.com/blog/best-seo-tools-2026 the slug is best-seo-tools-2026. Good slugs are short (3–5 words), contain the primary keyword, use hyphens (not underscores), and avoid stopwords and date/ID numbers. Ranking impact is small but not zero; CTR impact via readability is larger.
Example
Bad: /p?id=4532&cat=7. Better: /running-shoes-men-nike-pegasus-40. The second is SERP-friendly, shareable and self-descriptive.
Frequently asked questions
Should I rewrite old slugs?
Only if the current one is truly bad (parameters, numbers, outdated year). Always 301 old to new and update internal links.
Uppercase in slugs?
No. Always lowercase. Uppercase can cause duplicate-content issues (servers sometimes treat /Foo and /foo as different URLs).
Related terms
Further reading
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