Should URL slugs include stop words?

Not usually. Words like 'a', 'the' and 'for' add length without adding relevance, and Google's own guidance favours simple, descriptive URLs. Removing them shortens the slug and keeps the target keyword phrase more prominent, though brand or product names should stay intact.

How long should a URL slug be?

Shorter is better, generally under 60 characters. Long URLs get truncated in the search results breadcrumb and are harder to read when shared. Aim for the shortest slug that still clearly describes the page and includes its primary keyword.

Should I use hyphens or underscores in a slug?

Hyphens. Google explicitly treats a hyphen as a word separator, but reads an underscore as joining two words together — so 'project-management' is parsed as two keywords while 'project_management' can be read as one string. Hyphens are the standard across essentially every CMS.

Can I change a URL slug after publishing without hurting SEO?

Yes, but only with a 301 redirect from the old slug to the new one, and only if necessary — every existing backlink, bookmark and indexed reference points at the old URL. Minor slug edits after publishing rarely justify the temporary ranking volatility a URL change causes.

Free tool · No signup

Slug Generator

Convert a page title into a clean, search-friendly URL slug in one click.

Bulk mode (one title per line)

Title

Base URL (for preview)

Max length (characters)

Remove common stop words (a, the, and, of…)

Slug

a-complete-guide-to-technical-seo-in-2024

41 characters — Good length for search results and readability.

Example URL

https://example.com/blog/a-complete-guide-to-technical-seo-in-2024

In short

A slug generator converts a page title into a clean URL path by lowercasing it, transliterating accented characters, stripping punctuation, and replacing spaces with hyphens. A good slug is short, readable, keyword-relevant and stable — Google recommends URLs that describe the content simply, and shorter slugs tend to display better in search results than long, truncated ones. Paste a title below to get a hyphenated slug, with optional stop-word removal.

Worked example

What the output looks like

Input: 10 Best Project Management Tools for Remote Teams in 2024
Output: best-project-management-tools-remote-teams-2024
How to read it: Stop words ('10', 'for', 'in') and the ordinal are dropped, leaving the keyword phrase intact and the slug under 50 characters — short enough to display in full in Google's URL breadcrumb.

How it works

Paste your page title or working headline

The tool strips capitalisation, punctuation and special characters as you type, so you can see the slug update live rather than editing it by hand afterwards.

Choose whether to remove stop words

Removing words like 'a', 'the' and 'of' produces a tighter, more scannable slug without losing the target keyword. Keep them if the phrase reads oddly without them, such as brand names.

Check the length and copy the result

Google truncates long URLs in the SERP breadcrumb, so the tool flags slugs longer than roughly 60 characters. Copy the final hyphenated string straight into your CMS's permalink field.

What this tool does

Lowercases and hyphenates automatically
Transliterates accented and non-Latin characters (é → e, ü → u)
Optional stop-word removal (a, the, and, of) for shorter slugs
Flags slugs that exceed the recommended length for display in search results

Questions

Frequently asked

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