URL Slug Best Practices for SEO [2025 Guide]

Why URL Slugs Matter for SEO

Before diving into best practices, let's understand why URL slugs deserve your attention:

Best Practice #1: Keep Slugs Short (Under 60 Characters)

Shorter URLs are easier to read, remember, share, and tend to rank better in search results. Aim for 3-5 words that capture the essence of your content.

Why Length Matters

• Search Display: Google typically displays 50-60 characters of the URL in search results. Longer URLs get truncated with "..."
• Social Sharing: Many platforms show preview URLs. Shorter ones display completely.
• Verbal Communication: If you mention a URL in a video or podcast, short slugs are easier to say and remember.

Best Practice #2: Include Your Target Keyword

Including your primary keyword in the URL slug provides a relevance signal to search engines. It also helps users identify relevant results when scanning search pages.

Keyword Placement Guidelines

• Front-load keywords: Place your main keyword near the beginning of the slug when possible.
• Use exact match when natural: If targeting "best coffee makers," use best-coffee-makers not top-machines-for-coffee.
• Avoid keyword stuffing: Including the same keyword multiple times looks spammy and can hurt rankings.
• One keyword focus: Each URL should target one primary keyword or topic.

Best Practice #3: Use Hyphens (-) as Word Separators

Google treats hyphens as word separators but treats underscores as word joiners. This has direct implications for how search engines interpret your URLs.

Google's Official Position

Matt Cutts, former head of Google's Webspam team, explicitly recommended hyphens over underscores in URLs. While Google has improved at parsing underscores, hyphens remain the clear best practice.

What About Other Separators?

• Spaces: Never use spaces—they become %20 in URLs, which is ugly and can cause technical issues.
• Plus signs (+): Avoid these; they're often interpreted as spaces and can cause encoding issues.
• Periods (.): Reserved for file extensions and subdomains. Don't use as word separators.

Best Practice #4: Use Lowercase Letters Only

URLs are case-sensitive on most web servers. example.com/About-Us and example.com/about-us are technically different URLs that could point to different content—or one could return a 404 error.

Why This Matters

• Duplicate content: Multiple URL versions can dilute your SEO value.
• Link equity loss: If someone links to the wrong case, it may not help your rankings.
• User errors: People often type URLs in lowercase by default.
• Consistency: All-lowercase URLs look cleaner and more professional.

Best Practice #5: Remove Unnecessary Stop Words

Stop words are common words like "the," "a," "an," "and," "or," "is," "in," "at," etc. Removing them makes URLs shorter without losing meaning.

When to Keep Stop Words

Sometimes stop words are necessary for meaning or readability:

• "How to" tutorials: how-to-start-a-business reads better than start-business.
• Phrases and quotes: "The art of war" should stay as the-art-of-war.
• Brand names: "The New York Times" shouldn't be shortened.

Use judgment—remove stop words that add length without adding clarity.

Best Practice #6: Avoid Special Characters

URL slugs should only contain letters, numbers, and hyphens. Special characters cause problems with encoding, readability, and compatibility.

Characters to Avoid

Handling Accented Characters

For international content with accented characters (é, ü, ñ, ç), convert them to ASCII equivalents:

• café → cafe
• über → uber
• jalapeño → jalapeno

This ensures maximum compatibility across all browsers, systems, and when sharing links.

Best Practice #7: Think Twice About Dates in URLs

Including dates in URLs is a common practice but has significant drawbacks. Consider carefully before adding year, month, or day to your slugs.

When Dates Are Appropriate

• News and events: Time-specific content like "2025 Super Bowl predictions"
• Annual roundups: "Best of 2025" posts that won't be updated
• Historical content: Content about specific time periods

When to Avoid Dates

• Evergreen guides: Content you'll update regularly
• Product comparisons: "Best X" lists you'll refresh annually
• Tutorials: How-to content that remains relevant

Best Practice #8: Make Slugs Descriptive

Your URL slug should tell users (and search engines) what the page is about without needing to see the title. Avoid generic or cryptic slugs.

The "Readable URL Test"

Before finalizing a slug, ask yourself:

• Could someone guess the page topic from the URL alone?
• Would this URL look good in a search result?
• Is it something you'd be comfortable saying out loud?

If any answer is "no," revise your slug.

Best Practice #9: Maintain Consistency Across Your Site

Develop URL conventions and stick to them. Consistent URL structures make your site more predictable for users and search engines.

Create a URL Style Guide

Document your URL conventions, such as:

• Blog posts: /blog/post-title
• Products: /products/product-name
• Categories: /category-name
• Resources: /resources/resource-type

Benefits of Consistency

• Users learn your URL patterns and can navigate intuitively
• Internal linking becomes easier and more predictable
• Analytics and reporting are cleaner
• Site structure signals are clearer to search engines

Best Practice #10: Handle Slug Changes Properly

If you need to change a URL slug after publishing, always implement a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.

Why Redirects Are Critical

• Preserve link equity: 301 redirects pass ~90-99% of link value to the new URL
• Prevent 404 errors: Existing links and bookmarks continue working
• Maintain rankings: Google transfers ranking signals to the new URL
• User experience: Visitors don't hit dead ends

When to Change Slugs

• Fixing typos or errors
• Updating outdated terminology
• Major content pivots
• Rebranding

When not to change: Minor improvements that don't significantly help. The risk of implementation issues usually outweighs small gains.

URL Slug Checklist

Use this checklist before publishing any new page:

Common URL Slug Mistakes to Avoid

Tools for Creating Better URL Slugs

Use these tools to implement best practices quickly:

• URL Slug Generator: Convert any text to SEO-friendly slugs instantly.
• Custom Slug URL Shortener: Create branded short links with your own custom slugs.
• What is a URL Slug?: Complete guide to URL slug basics.