What is a Slug? Definition,

Function and How to Make It

What is a Slug?

The presence of this slug is very important in the URL. This is one of the important parts of the URL that is located after the website domain. The existence of a slug can tell visitors a general overview of the contents of the page clearly and concisely. To make it easier to understand the slug, see the following URL example

What is the Function of a Slug?

What is a slug and its function? The existence of this slug plays an important role for a website. In fact, its role is quite crucial in improving website SEO. I always pay attention to the quality of the slug in site management. With an optimal slug, it can provide valuable benefits for user experience and SEO potential.

to be more precise, the functions of the slug are as follows:

1. Supports SEO friendliness

An optimal slug means that it can support the website to be more SEO friendly. Slugs can be made with the main keywords in them and it can help the site to achieve high rankings on Google/Bing searches.

2. Improves user experience

The use of optimal slugs can have an impact on a more user-friendly URL. Slugs can be made informative, clear, but still simple. With such an optimal slug, visitors can quickly understand the general content of the web page.

Furthermore, if they are interested or curious, they will be willing to read the entire page. In other words, slug optimization can improve the website visitor experience.

3. Explaining page content

To identify content, slugs play an important role. Slugs on each web page make it easier for us to manage content or articles. Each page has its own unique identification because of the use of the slug.

How to Create a Slug?

How to create a slug is easy, here are the steps if you are using WordPress.

First, open the Dashboard then go to the Permalink settings, the method is to open Settings, then select Permalinks.

Go to Custom Structure to edit the slug. Although there is already a default slug, you can change it for a better quality slug.

When editing the slug, you can consider using the main keyword. Make sure the keyword is strong and has high relevance to the content on the related site page.

Use _ or – as a hyphen in the slug instead of spaces. Also, make sure each word is lowercase.

Slug Optimization Tips

What are some tips for creating a slug? It’s not just about using the right keywords, there are several other important aspects. Perfect your slug by keeping it short. But also make sure the short slug is informative.

If you make a long slug, the URL will automatically be longer and less user-friendly. Consider using redirects too, for what? So that users can get access to old content if they need it. Then you also need to pay attention to the use of numbers, it is recommended to use hyphens and lowercase letters for this slug.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Slugs

What is a slug and what are its advantages and disadvantages? Using a good slug can provide various advantages but there are also certain disadvantages to anticipate. Here are more details about the advantages and disadvantages of slugs:

Advantages

Here are some of the advantages of slugs:

1. Speed ​​up page load time

The site page load time can be shorter with a simple but dense slug. The longer a URL, the longer the server will take to respond. Moreover, short URLs can also reduce bandwidth intensity. URLs with short slugs do not require a lot of data transmission.

2. Superior in UX and SEO

It is very important for a site to excel in user experience. The use of slugs that are able to describe well makes it easy for users to understand and navigate the page. They just need to see the URL details at a glance and have a general idea of ​​what’s in it.

If the slug is made professionally like that, it also ensures the credibility of the site. Visitors will trust relevant and neat slugs more. Because it is based on user friendliness, a website with optimal slugs can also be superior in SEO.

The description of the slug can also help search engine systems understand the contents of the web page. Indexing will also be easier so that better web visibility can be expected. Optimizing slugs with keywords can also support SEO friendliness because Google highly values ​​sites with relevant URLs.

3. Content management efficiency

The function of slugs can provide unique identification for each web page. That way, content searches and other management will be easier. Internal linking can also be more effective and efficient with structured slugs.

Disadvantages

Here are some disadvantages of slugs that need to be considered:

1. Slug similarity

If slugs are made too similar or even the same between pages, it can trigger duplication problems. Google can be confused about understanding which pages are the priority.

2. It takes high precision to excel in SEO

If you are not careful in choosing keywords, it can have a bad effect on the ranking of the web page. The same is true in setting the redirects needed when the slug needs to be modified. Redirects can ensure that visitors have no difficulty accessing the pages they need. Sometimes settings like this require high precision and take a lot of time.

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