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SEO

URL Slug

A URL slug is the trailing portion of a URL path that identifies a specific page in human-readable text. In inblog.ai/ko/blog/seo-guide, the slug is seo-guide.

A URL slug is the trailing portion of a URL path that identifies a specific page in human-readable text. In inblog.ai/ko/blog/seo-guide, the slug is seo-guide.

The full URL is the entire web address, including the protocol, domain, path, parameters, and anchors. The slug is only the page-specific identifier at the end of that path.

Why It Matters

Slugs serve as an early signal of page content for both search engines and users. Google treats words in URLs as a lightweight supplementary signal, so the SEO impact should not be overstated; the stronger reason to write clear slugs is readability, user trust, and search-result click-through. Clean, descriptive slugs outperform meaningless URLs like /post?id=12345 in both SEO and UX. Slugs are also difficult to change after publication, since modifying a URL breaks existing backlinks, shared links, and bookmarks.

SEO-Optimized Slug Best Practices

  • Include target keywords: Place your primary keyword naturally in the slug, without keyword stuffing.
  • Keep it short: 3–5 words capturing the essence. Drop unnecessary articles, prepositions, conjunctions.
  • Use lowercase: URLs are case-sensitive; stick to lowercase for consistency.
  • Separate with hyphens: Use hyphens (-) between words. Avoid underscores or spaces.
  • Avoid special characters: Use letters, numbers, and hyphens only.
  • Skip dates: /2026/04/seo-guide makes content look outdated when updated later.

Slug Examples

Bad SlugGood SlugWhy
/p?id=487/content-marketing-guideMeaningful keywords
/the-ultimate-complete-guide-to-seo-for-beginners-2026/seo-beginners-guideConcise
/Blog-Post-About-SEO/blog-post-about-seoLowercase

Changing Slugs After Publication

If you must change a published slug, always set a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This preserves backlink SEO value and ensures users reaching the old URL are forwarded automatically.

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