URL slug generator

What is a URL slug and why does it matter for SEO

A slug is the final, descriptive part of a page address, the part that comes after the domain and category markers. For example, in the address evi.rs/blog/kako-radi-rag, the slug is kako-radi-rag. While the domain and directory structure tell you where the page is located, the slug tells you what the page is about. It is the first signal both to search engines and to people who see the link before they open it.

A good address helps in three ways. From it, a search engine can infer the topic of the page, the user sees in the search results what it is about before clicking, and the link is easier to share, remember and cite. A bad address, full of numbers and codes, says nothing and looks untrustworthy.

A slug generator does one simple thing: it turns a title into a clean string of lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens. You enter the title, the tool removes punctuation and stop words, transliterates the Cyrillic script and converts č, ć, š, ž and đ into c, c, s, z and dj. The result is an address that works everywhere, without percent codes.

How to create a good slug for a page or blog post

Start from the title, but do not copy it blindly. Titles are often longer and contain words that serve no purpose in an address. The goal is for the slug to be short, readable and to contain the main keyword.

A practical procedure:

1. Enter the title into the generator and look at the suggestion.
2. Keep the keyword and at most two to three supporting words.
3. Remove numbers, dates and seasonal markers if they are not part of the topic.
4. Check that the slug makes sense when read without the rest of the address.
5. If you plan a translation or multiple languages, keep the same slug pattern on all versions.

Example: the title "How to properly set up a WordPress site on a server 2024" can produce the slug kako-postaviti-wordpress-sajt-na-server. The year was dropped because the text will remain relevant after it, and the address will not have to be changed.

Directory structure and slug work together. If you already have /blog/, do not put blog in the slug again. The same applies to categories: /usluge/izrada-sajtova is more readable than /usluge/usluga-izrada-sajtova.

The most common mistakes when creating a slug

The biggest mistake is changing the slug after the page has been indexed. The old link then leads to a 404 error, and if you redirect it, the redirect must be permanent (301). That is why you should design the slug before publishing, not after.

Another common mistake is an overly long slug. An address of ten words looks like a title, not an identifier. A short slug is easier to share and less likely to be truncated on social networks.

The third mistake is diacritics and Cyrillic in the address. Although browsers display them correctly, in a copied link they turn into strings like %D0%BA, which ruins the impression and makes sharing harder. That is why the tool reduces everything to ASCII letters.

The fourth mistake is inconsistency. If one article has the slug kako-radi-rag and another RAG-kako-funkcionise, you are sending mixed signals to the reader and the search engine. Set a rule and stick to it: lowercase letters, hyphens, no stop words.

Advanced tips: slug, keywords and changing addresses

On multilingual sites, pay attention to transliteration. The generator covers Serbian, Russian, German and Turkish text, so the same title in Serbian and German can produce different slugs. That is fine, but make sure that the keyword in each language appears in the corresponding slug.

When you have to change a slug, do it in a planned way. Record the old and new link, set up a 301 redirect and update the internal links to that page. If the address changes multiple times, the redirect chain slows down loading and loses part of the signal.

Expert tip: treat the slug as a permanent identifier and the title as a variable element. You can change the title for A/B testing or seasonal campaigns without risk, while the address should remain stable for years.

If you have a large site with hundreds of pages and you are changing the address structure, creating slugs and redirects manually quickly becomes unwieldy. In such situations, EVI Solutions can help with address migration and preserving SEO performance.