Platform Guide

WordPress Slug Optimization

Master WordPress URL slugs to boost your SEO rankings. Learn permalink settings, optimization techniques, and best practices for creating search-friendly URLs.

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Understanding WordPress Slugs

In WordPress, a slug is the user-friendly, URL-safe version of your post or page title. It appears in the URL after your domain name and helps both users and search engines understand what your content is about.

WordPress URL Structure
https://yoursite.com/[category]/[post-slug]/

The blue portion is the slug - the part you control and optimize.

Where Slugs Appear in WordPress

Posts & Pages

Every post and page has a unique slug that forms its permanent URL.

yoursite.com/my-blog-post/
Categories

Category slugs appear in archive URLs and optionally in post URLs.

yoursite.com/category/tutorials/
Tags

Tag slugs are used for tag archive pages.

yoursite.com/tag/wordpress-seo/
Custom Post Types

WooCommerce products, portfolios, and other custom types have slugs.

yoursite.com/product/blue-widget/

How to Edit WordPress Slugs

Method 1: Block Editor (Gutenberg)

  1. Open the post or page in the editor
  2. Click on the Post tab in the right sidebar
  3. Find the URL or Permalink section
  4. Click the URL to edit the slug
  5. Type your optimized slug
  6. Update or publish the post

Method 2: Quick Edit

  1. Go to Posts > All Posts or Pages > All Pages
  2. Hover over the post and click Quick Edit
  3. Find the Slug field
  4. Edit the slug and click Update

Method 3: Classic Editor

  1. Open the post in the classic editor
  2. Below the title, click Edit next to the permalink
  3. Type your new slug
  4. Click OK then update the post

Editing Category and Tag Slugs

  1. Go to Posts > Categories or Posts > Tags
  2. Click Edit on the category/tag
  3. Modify the Slug field
  4. Click Update

WordPress Slug Best Practices

Do
  • Use target keywords
  • Keep slugs short (3-5 words)
  • Use hyphens as separators
  • Use lowercase letters only
  • Make slugs descriptive
  • Remove stop words (a, the, is)
  • Edit before publishing
Don't
  • Use auto-generated slugs as-is
  • Include dates or numbers
  • Use underscores or spaces
  • Stuff keywords unnaturally
  • Use special characters
  • Change slugs after indexing
  • Use generic slugs like "post-1"

Before and After Examples

Post Title Auto-Generated Slug Optimized Slug
10 Amazing Tips for Better WordPress SEO in 2025 10-amazing-tips-for-better-wordpress-seo-in-2025 wordpress-seo-tips
How to Create a Beautiful Landing Page That Converts how-to-create-a-beautiful-landing-page-that-converts landing-page-guide
The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Google Analytics 4 the-ultimate-guide-to-understanding-google-analytics-4 google-analytics-4-guide
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Common WordPress Slug Mistakes

WordPress automatically creates slugs from your post title, but these are often too long and include unnecessary words.

Solution: Always review and edit the slug before publishing. Remove stop words and focus on 2-4 key terms.

Slugs like "best-plugins-2024" become outdated quickly and may hurt your content's perceived freshness.

Solution: Use evergreen slugs. Update the content and meta tags with years instead of the URL.

Changing a slug after Google has indexed the page breaks existing links and can hurt rankings.

Solution: If you must change a slug, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.

WordPress appends "-2", "-3" to duplicate slugs, creating confusing URLs like "seo-tips-2".

Solution: Check for existing slugs before creating new ones. Use unique, descriptive slugs.

Category slugs are often overlooked but appear in URLs if you use category-based permalinks.

Solution: Optimize category slugs too. Keep them short and keyword-focused.

Recommended WordPress SEO Plugins

These plugins help optimize slugs and overall URL structure in WordPress. Many users combine plugin-based optimization with a professional URL shortener for tracking campaign performance across social channels.

Yoast SEO
Free + Premium

Provides slug optimization suggestions in the SEO analysis panel. Warns about long slugs and function words. Looking for alternatives? See our Bitly alternative comparison.

  • Real-time slug analysis
  • Keyphrase in slug check
  • Redirect manager (premium)
Rank Math
Free + Pro

Advanced SEO plugin with built-in URL optimization and automatic slug suggestions based on focus keywords.

  • Focus keyword in URL check
  • URL length analysis
  • 301 redirect module (free)
Permalink Manager
Premium

Advanced permalink editing with bulk changes, custom post type support, and automatic redirects.

  • Bulk slug editing
  • Custom permalink patterns
  • Automatic 301 redirects
Redirection
Free

Essential plugin for managing redirects when changing slugs. Tracks 404 errors and creates redirect rules.

  • 301/302 redirect management
  • 404 error tracking
  • Regex redirect support

Bulk Slug Optimization

For sites with many posts, optimizing slugs one by one is impractical. Here are strategies for bulk optimization.

Using the Permalink Manager Plugin

  1. Install and activate Permalink Manager Pro
  2. Go to Tools > Permalink Manager > Bulk Edit
  3. Filter posts by category, date, or custom criteria
  4. Use the bulk editor to modify slugs
  5. Apply changes - redirects are created automatically

Using Database Queries (Advanced)

Warning: Always backup your database before running SQL queries.
Find Long Slugs
SELECT ID, post_name, post_title
FROM wp_posts
WHERE post_status = 'publish'
AND LENGTH(post_name) > 50
ORDER BY LENGTH(post_name) DESC;

Prioritization Strategy

Focus your optimization efforts on:

  1. High-traffic pages - Check Google Analytics for top pages
  2. Ranking pages - Pages ranking on page 2-3 in Google
  3. New content - Optimize before publishing
  4. Cornerstone content - Your most important articles

Handling Redirects When Changing Slugs

When you change a slug on an indexed page, you must set up a redirect to preserve SEO value and prevent broken links.

Types of Redirects

Type Use Case SEO Impact
301 (Permanent) Permanent slug changes Passes ~90-99% of link equity
302 (Temporary) Temporary changes only Does not pass link equity
307 (Temporary) HTTP/2 temporary redirect Similar to 302

Setting Up Redirects with the Redirection Plugin

  1. Install and activate the Redirection plugin
  2. Go to Tools > Redirection
  3. Click Add New
  4. Enter the old URL in "Source URL"
  5. Enter the new URL in "Target URL"
  6. Select "301 - Moved Permanently"
  7. Click Add Redirect

Manual .htaccess Redirect

# Single redirect
Redirect 301 /old-slug/ /new-slug/

# Regex redirect for patterns
RedirectMatch 301 ^/blog/([0-9]+)/(.*)$ /blog/$2

Frequently Asked Questions

The 'Post name' structure (yoursite.com/post-name/) is generally best for SEO. It creates clean, keyword-focused URLs without dates or category prefixes that can make URLs unnecessarily long.

Yes, but you should set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. Changing slugs without redirects breaks existing links and can hurt your search rankings.

Aim for 3-5 words or about 50-60 characters. Shorter slugs are easier to read, share, and remember. Remove stop words and focus on your primary keywords.

Generally no. Years in slugs can make content seem outdated. Instead, keep slugs evergreen and update the title, meta description, and content with current years.

Yes, especially if you use category-based permalinks. Optimize category slugs to be short and descriptive. They also appear in category archive URLs.

WordPress automatically appends numbers like '-2' to duplicate slugs. To fix this, manually edit the slug to make it unique and descriptive. Consider the content's unique angle.

Related Tools

Slug Generator

Convert any text to SEO-friendly slugs instantly.

Try Tool
Custom URL Shortener

Create branded short links with custom slugs.

Learn More
URL Slug Best Practices

Complete guide to writing better URL slugs.

Read Guide

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