WordPress page slug is a term that most new and even experienced content writers are not familiar with. The slug is a part of the URL that starts after the domain name, and the words are separated by hyphens. It includes the main keywords to describe your topic to search engines and visitors through the URL link.
Furthermore, it can help you to improve the visibility and ranking of each page in the search engines. The article below is a step-by-step guide to understanding the slug and using it effectively to get better results and high ranking.
Let’s dive deep into the details and learn how you can create an effective WordPress page slug to get better visibility and traffic on search engines.
Definition of WordPress Page Slug:
Search engines recognize every page of a website by the address called URL that contains the domain name, and other necessary information related to the page. Each page of the website is recognized by its unique slug that consists of the main keyword of the topic to give a clear idea of the content. It starts after the domain name in the URL and ends at a backslash\.
For example, this is the URL of one of the blog posts on my website.
https://writecrazy.com/anchor-text-and-backlinks-skyrocket-your-websites-authority-and-visibility/ . In the above URL, HTTPS stands for“ Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secured, which shows the data transfer between the user and website server is protected. Next, Wriecrazy.com is the name of the domain, which is the main address of the website. Finally, the text after the website domain name is the slug of the specific page that is “anchor-text-and-backlinks-skyrocket-your-websites-authority-and-visibility/”.
It is recommended to add the main keywords of your topic in the slug of the URL to give a clear idea of the content to the reader at first sight. As you can see the above URL slug provides a clear indication that the content is about anchor text and backlinks.
How WordPress Page Slug Is Important For SEO:
WordPress page slug is considered an important factor of SEO as it helps the search engine and user to understand the context of any specific page. A clear and optimized slug helps to improve the ranking of your website by clearly defining each page to the search to rank on targeted keywords.
On the other hand, a well-optimized slug improves the user experience of your website by clearly describing the content of any page. A slug with keywords included helps to attract organic traffic based on the user queries related to your target keywords and improves the visibility of your website pages in search engine result pages (SERPs).
How To Create SEO-Friendly WordPress Page Slug:
The following are best practices to create well optimized and SEO-friendly WordPress Page Slug.
Use Your Target Keywords:
Always use your main focus keywords in your slug to reflect your content by the page URL. For example, the slug we discussed earlier in the article, contains the exact target keywords. “anchor-text-and-backlinks-skyrocket-your-websites-authority-and-visibility/”.
Keep It Short and Concise:
Short sentences are always easy to read and understand in any type of content, The same goes for the slug. Always keep your slug short and clear to give the exact information of the topic to your target audience. It has been observed that shorter WordPress page slugs perform well as compared to longer ones.
Use Hyphens To Separate Words:
Google recommends using hyphens to separate the words in slug hyphens instead of space or underscore because The hyphen is identified as a word separator by the search engine.
Avoid Using Stop Words and Dates:
A stop word is that which is common and doesn’t show a significant value, for example” and” of, “or”, “, or “the”. These are common words and make the slug unnecessarily lengthy, so avoid using them.
Also, using dates in slug is not considered a good practice because after some time your article will look outdated. For example, if you publish an article in 2023 with the date in your slug, after a year in 2024, this article with 2023 in your slug will be considered outdated and old and probably make the user look for another article with up-to-date information.
Use One Text Pattern:
Most search engines don’t have any specific guidelines about the text pattern of slug and treat lower and upper case text equally. But, it is recommended by Google to use the same pattern for all text in a WordPress page slug, whether you use lowercase or uppercase.
UTF-8 Encoding:
The UTF-8 is a character encoding system to encode characters of different languages into the Unicode Standard. Google promotes the use of this standard encoding system for different languages in slug and URL.
Things You Should Avoid To Create a Well-Optimized WordPress Page Slug:
Here are a few things you should avoid, to create a well-optimized and descriptive WordPress page slug.
- Using special characters
- Common words
- Keywords overstuffing
- Long slug phrases
- Duplicate slugs
- Changing slugs again and again
- Dates and numbers
Difference Between Page Slug and Permalink:
Permalink: the complete URL address of any page is known as a permalink or permanent link. For example, this is a permalink or URL of a page:https\\writecrazy.com\what-is-wordpress-page-slug\.
Page Slug: the last part of any URL consisting of the main focus keywords or topic details and operated by hyphens. For example, The ending part of the above URL is the slug of this URL.“what-is-wordpress-page-slug\’’”.
The main difference between a slug and a permalink is a slug is part of a permalink, and a permalink is the full URL address of any page.
How To Change The WordPress Page Slug of Any Existing Page:
Normally, it is not recommended to change the slug of any website page that is live and published. If it’s necessary to change the slug, you will need to set a redirect from the old URL to the new URL by using the method mentioned below.
Changing Slug:
You can change any WordPress page slug by following these steps.
- >Go to posts or pages
- >Selectr and edit the specific page
- >You will see the post option on the right-hand side
- >Click on the permalink and edit
- >Save and publish the post
Setting Redirect For The Edited Slug:
There are many free plugins available for setting redirects and fixing other related errors. You can easily set redirects from old URLs to new ones by using any of these plugins on your website.
Best Tools For Creating Optimized WordPress Page Slug:
There are many websites available that offer to create free well optimized and descriptive WordPress Page Slugs, including slugify. online, Appdevtools.com, and Domaincheckupplugin.com.
Conclusion:
The WordPress page slug is an important factor for maximized visibility and high ranking in search engines. It is defined as the ending part of any URL that starts after the domain name, consists of the main keyword, and is separated by hyphens. A well-optimized slug gives a clear idea of the topic to the search engine and the readers.
The best practice to create a descriptive slug is to include the main keyword, use short sentences, and avoid special characters and dates. You can also use some SEO such as Yoast SEO, Rank Match, and many others to create a well-optimized WordPress page slug.
Overall, the slug is an important factor in ranking considered by search engines. It is necessary to create a compelling, well-described, and unique slug for each page of your website to get better visibility and organic traffic.
FAQs:
- What is the character limit of slug?
There is no limit of characters for a webpage slug, but shorter slugs perform well, so try to create shorter slugs for your website pages.
- Can I change the slug after publishing a page or post on my WordPress website?
Yes, you can change the slug of any published page of your website, but it is not recommended to change it once the page is published online. If it’s necessary to change the slug, make sure to set up a redirect to covert traffic from the old URL to the newly edited version.
- What is the difference between a permalink and a slug?
The permalink is the full URL address of any page, website, or post and the slug is the last part of the URL that starts after the domain name and each contains hyphens as a word separator.
Well done Abdul Haseeb…. It’s too informative article. I was not familiar with the information you shared about the WordPress slug but you described each and everything perfectly…. It’s really helpful and informative…. Keep sharing your expertise 😊
Thank you
This is inspired! I’m happy I spotted your post as it’s better than similar posts I’ve read from most people about this subject. Can I ask you to write more about this? Perhaps give an additional example? many thanks!
Absolutely, I am glad you found these helpful. I will write again or you can contact us at haseebgraphics553@gmail.com
I like this! Is there anything more I should look into next? Or is this good?
Yeah, you can check more articles related to this topic, and also you can ask for any specific topic on which you need more information