What makes a good slug
Lowercase, hyphens between words, ASCII letters and digits only, and short enough to read in a search result — 3 to 6 meaningful words. Hyphens (not underscores) are the word separator search engines parse; accents and smart quotes get folded or dropped because encoded characters turn into unreadable %C3%A8 soup the moment the URL is shared.
Slugs and SEO, briefly
The slug is a minor ranking signal and a major human one: /creme-brulee-recipes earns more clicks than /post?id=8412 because readers can see what's behind the link. Keep the keyword, drop filler words if the slug runs long, and above all never change a published slug without a 301 redirect — a renamed URL is a broken link everywhere it was ever shared.
Frequently asked questions
Why hyphens instead of underscores?
Search engines treat hyphens as word separators but historically joined words around underscores — creme-brulee reads as two words, creme_brulee risks reading as one. Hyphens are also easier to see in underlined links.
What happens to accented characters?
They're folded to their base letters via Unicode normalization: è→e, ü→u, ñ→n. Languages that don't decompose (Chinese, Arabic) need transliteration or an ID-based slug instead.
How long should a slug be?
Aim under ~60 characters and 3–6 words. Trim dates, stop-words, and clever puns — the slug's job is to say what the page is in the width of a search result.
Should the slug always match the title?
It should match the title's meaning, not its every word. '10 Ways to Save Money on Groceries in 2026' slugs well as save-money-groceries — stable even when you update the year in the title.