Look at the address bar of your browser right now. The words at the end of the web address, joined by hyphens, are most probably a slug. A slug is the short, URL-friendly name that identifies one specific post, page, category or tag.
In WordPress, slugs decide how readable your links are and help search engines understand what each page is about.
What is a Slug in WordPress?
If the permalink is the full postal address, the slug is the name on the gate of the house. For example, in example.com/best-pizza-recipes/, the slug is best-pizza-recipes.
By default, WordPress creates the slug from your title. It changes letters to lowercase, turns spaces into hyphens and removes most special characters. Categories and tags have their own slugs too.
Slugs matter for SEO as well, because a clear slug tells readers and search engines what to expect before anyone clicks.
How to edit a slug
- First, open the post or page in the block editor.
- Next, open the settings sidebar on the right and click the post's URL.
- Now, type your new slug in the box that appears.
- Finally, save or update the post.
For categories and tags, go to Posts → Categories or Posts → Tags and edit the slug field there. Our guide on how to change a slug in WordPress shows a few more ways.
Tips for a good slug
- Keep it short and include your main keyword.
- Remove filler words like "a", "the" and "of" when they add no meaning.
- Avoid years and numbers that may go out of date, like
best-phones-2019. - Use only lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens.
We share more ideas in our article on how to optimize a slug in WordPress.
Slugs must be unique. If two posts end up with the same slug, WordPress adds a number, such as -2, to the newer one. Also, changing a published slug changes its URL, so add a 301 redirect to be safe.
A short, clear slug makes every link easier to read, share and rank. That's all about slugs. If you have any doubts, feel free to ask in the comment section below.