Slug Generator

Generate URL-friendly slugs from text. Convert titles to SEO-optimized URLs for websites, blogs, and web applications.

What It Does

Slug Generator converts text into URL-friendly slugs for web pages, blog posts, and file names. A slug is the URL-safe version of a title that appears in web addresses—for example, "How to Bake Cookies" becomes "how-to-bake-cookies". This tool automatically converts text to lowercase, replaces spaces with hyphens, removes special characters, and creates SEO-optimized URLs that are both human-readable and search engine friendly. The generator transforms any text into a clean, URL-safe string by applying standard slug formatting rules: converting to lowercase, replacing spaces and underscores with hyphens, removing accent marks and diacritics (é becomes e), stripping special characters that are invalid in URLs, eliminating consecutive hyphens, and trimming hyphens from the start and end. The result is a properly formatted slug ready to use in URLs, file names, or database identifiers.

Key Features:

  • Automatic lowercase conversion for consistency
  • Space and underscore replacement with hyphens
  • Diacritic removal (accented character normalization)
  • Special character stripping (keeps only a-z, 0-9, hyphens)
  • Consecutive hyphen removal (prevents "word---word")
  • Leading and trailing hyphen trimming
  • Maximum length option to limit slug size
  • Bulk slug generation for multiple titles

How To Use

Generate a URL-friendly slug in three steps. Enter or paste your text (title, heading, or name), click generate to convert it into a slug, and copy the result for use in your URL structure.

1

Enter Text to Convert

Type or paste the text you want to convert into a slug. This is typically a page title, blog post headline, product name, or any text that will become part of a URL. For example, enter "10 Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes!" or "Product Name & Features Overview".

2

Generate Slug

Click "Generate Slug" to transform your text into a URL-safe format. The tool will automatically apply all formatting rules: lowercase conversion, space-to-hyphen replacement, special character removal, and cleanup. The resulting slug will appear below, ready to use.

3

Copy and Use in URLs

Use the "Copy" button to copy the generated slug to your clipboard. Paste it into your CMS (WordPress, Drupal, etc.), web application URL routing, file naming, or database record. The slug becomes part of the full URL like "yoursite.com/blog/generated-slug-here".

Benefits

SEO Optimization: Clean, keyword-rich URLs improve search engine rankings and make content easier to index
Improved Readability: Hyphens between words make URLs easier for humans to read and understand compared to encoded spaces (%20)
Consistent URL Structure: Standardized slugs prevent duplicate content issues and maintain clean URL patterns across your site
Social Sharing: Pretty URLs look more professional when shared on social media and in emails
Accessibility: Screen readers and assistive technologies handle clean URLs better than URLs with special characters
CMS Compatibility: Slugs work universally across all content management systems and web frameworks
Prevention of Encoding Issues: Removes characters that require URL encoding, avoiding %20, %26, and other encoded representations

Use Cases

Blog Post and Article URLs

Convert blog post titles into SEO-friendly URL slugs. For example, "7 Tips for Better Sleep & Rest" becomes "7-tips-for-better-sleep-rest". Use the slug in your blog URL structure like "yoursite.com/blog/7-tips-for-better-sleep-rest". This creates clean, readable URLs that both users and search engines prefer. Always include primary keywords in your slug for better SEO. Avoid changing slugs after publication to prevent broken links.

E-commerce Product URLs

Generate product slugs for online stores from product names. "Samsung Galaxy S24 (5G) - 256GB" becomes "samsung-galaxy-s24-5g-256gb". Use slugs in product URLs like "store.com/products/samsung-galaxy-s24-5g-256gb". Clean product URLs improve Google Shopping rankings, make products easier to find in search results, and look more trustworthy to customers. Include key attributes like brand, model, and variant in the slug.

Landing Page and Marketing Campaign URLs

Create memorable slugs for landing pages and marketing campaigns. "Summer Sale 2024 - Up to 50% Off!" becomes "summer-sale-2024-up-to-50-off". Use in URLs like "yoursite.com/summer-sale-2024-up-to-50-off" for email campaigns, social media ads, and print materials. Short, descriptive slugs are easier to type and remember. They also look cleaner in ads and can be used in vanity URLs or QR codes.

File Naming and Document Management

Convert document titles into clean file names. "Q4 2024 Financial Report & Analysis.pdf" becomes "q4-2024-financial-report-analysis.pdf". Use slugs for organizing files, creating predictable file naming conventions, and ensuring compatibility across operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux). Slugified file names avoid issues with spaces and special characters that can break scripts and automation.

API Endpoints and Database Identifiers

Generate consistent identifiers for API routes and database records. "User Profile Settings & Preferences" becomes "user-profile-settings-preferences". Use as API endpoints like "/api/user-profile-settings-preferences" or as database slugs for querying records. Slugified identifiers are easier to work with in code, more readable in logs, and prevent encoding issues in HTTP requests.

Frequently Asked Questions

1 Should I use hyphens or underscores in slugs?
Always use hyphens, not underscores. Google treats hyphens as word separators but treats underscores as word connectors. For example, "best-chocolate-cookies" is recognized as three separate words, while "best_chocolate_cookies" is treated as one long word "bestchocolatecookies". This significantly impacts SEO as search engines can't properly identify keywords in underscore-separated slugs. Hyphens are also the web standard used by major platforms like WordPress, Medium, and YouTube. The only exception is if you're working with a legacy system that requires underscores.
2 How long should a URL slug be?
Keep slugs between 3-5 words (approximately 30-60 characters) for optimal SEO and readability. Shorter slugs are easier to share, remember, and type. They also look cleaner in search results and social media posts. Focus on including the primary keyword and 1-2 supporting keywords. For example, use "best-chocolate-chip-cookies" instead of "the-absolute-best-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe-youll-ever-make". Extremely long slugs may be truncated in search results and can appear spammy. However, prioritize clarity over brevity—don't sacrifice meaning for length.
3 Can I change a slug after publishing content?
Avoid changing slugs after content is published, as this breaks existing links and can hurt SEO. Every URL pointing to your content (from Google, social media shares, backlinks, bookmarks) will become a 404 error. If you must change a slug, implement a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL to preserve link equity and prevent broken links. In WordPress and most CMS platforms, use a redirect plugin. Update internal links, sitemaps, and notify anyone who linked to the old URL. Only change slugs for compelling reasons like fixing obvious errors or major rebranding.
4 Should I include stop words (a, the, and, or) in slugs?
Remove common stop words unless they're essential for clarity. "how-to-bake-cookies" is better than "how-to-bake-the-cookies" because "the" adds no value. However, keep stop words when removing them changes meaning or creates confusion. For example, keep "the" in "the-beatles-discography" because "beatles-discography" could refer to any Beatles compilation. Also keep words in branded phrases like "lord-of-the-rings". Most slug generators automatically remove stop words, but manually review for clarity. Balance SEO optimization (shorter slugs) with human readability (clear meaning).
5 How do I handle special characters and non-English text?
Convert accented characters to their ASCII equivalents (é→e, ñ→n, ü→u) for maximum compatibility. For non-Latin scripts (Chinese, Arabic, Japanese), use transliteration to create ASCII slugs, or use the native script if your server and SEO strategy support Unicode URLs. For example, "Jalapeño Popper Recipe" becomes "jalapeno-popper-recipe". Some CMS platforms support Unicode slugs like "北京-guide" but ASCII slugs are safer for legacy systems and email clients. Always test Unicode slugs thoroughly and ensure your server is configured for UTF-8. When in doubt, use English transliteration for broadest compatibility.

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