Text & Writing
Free Text to Slug Converter Online
Convert any text to clean URL slugs. Handles spaces, accents, special characters and case.
What is a URL slug?
A URL slug is the human-readable portion of a web address that identifies a specific page. In the URL https://example.com/blog/how-to-bake-bread, the slug is how-to-bake-bread. Slugs replace spaces with hyphens, strip special characters, and enforce lowercase — producing clean, linkable, and search-engine-friendly URLs.
Every major content management system — WordPress, Ghost, Webflow, Shopify, and others — generates a slug from your page title automatically. However, auto-generated slugs often include stop words, redundant characters, or unoptimized phrasing. This converter lets you craft the exact slug you want and preview it instantly before publishing.
Developers working with routing frameworks (Next.js, Nuxt, Laravel, Django) also use slug generators to normalize file names, route paths, and database keys that must be URL-safe. Consistent slug formatting across a project reduces routing bugs and improves codebase maintainability.
How to use the slug converter
- 1Choose your separator
Select hyphen (-) or underscore (_). Hyphens are recommended for public URLs — Google treats them as word separators. Use underscores only if your codebase or framework convention requires them.
- 2Paste or type your text
Enter your page title, product name, or any text. The converter handles mixed case, accented characters, numbers, and special symbols automatically.
- 3Copy the result
Your slug appears instantly in the green output box. Click Copy to grab it, then paste directly into your CMS, router config, or file name.
Slug best practices and SEO impact
URL structure is a confirmed on-page SEO factor. While slugs are not a primary ranking signal, a well-crafted slug improves click-through rates from search results, makes links more shareable, and helps Google understand page content before even crawling it.
| Practice | Recommended | Avoid | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Word separator | hyphens (my-page) | underscores (my_page) | Google reads hyphens as spaces; underscores join words |
| Case | all lowercase | Mixed or UPPER case | Case differences create duplicate content on most servers |
| Length | 3–6 keywords | Full sentence slugs | Long slugs get truncated in search results |
| Stop words | Remove "a", "the" | Keep all words | Shorter slugs read better and pass more link equity |
| Special chars | alphanumeric only | @, #, %, &, ! | Non-ASCII chars require percent-encoding |
| Accents | transliterate (e) | Encode (%C3%A9) | ASCII slugs are cleaner and more portable |
How slug generation works under the hood
The slugification algorithm runs through four transformation steps in sequence:
Example transformation: "Héllo Wörld! 2024" → "hello-world-2024"
Slugs in different frameworks and platforms
Different frameworks and platforms use slugs in slightly different ways. Understanding the conventions of your platform helps you generate the right format:
hyphen-lowercase[slug].tsx / [slug].vueSlugFieldproduct handlePage slugRepo / branch namesCommon slug mistakes to avoid
- Using query parameters instead of clean slugs (?id=123)
- Keeping stop words that dilute keyword signals
- Changing slugs after indexing without 301 redirects
- Duplicate slugs causing content conflicts
- Include the primary keyword near the start of the slug
- Keep slugs stable — avoid unnecessary renaming
- Use hyphens consistently across your entire site
- Preview slugs before publishing to catch issues early
Related text tools
Once you have your slug, these tools help you with the next steps in writing and publishing workflow:
FAQ
Common questions
What is a URL slug?
A URL slug is the part of a web address that identifies a specific page in a human-readable form. In "https://example.com/blog/how-to-bake-bread", the slug is "how-to-bake-bread". Slugs replace spaces with hyphens, remove special characters, and use lowercase letters so URLs are clean, shareable, and optimized for search engines.
How does the slug converter handle accented characters?
Accented characters like é, ñ, ü, and ø are transliterated to their closest ASCII equivalents (e, n, u, o) using Unicode normalization (NFD decomposition). This ensures slugs remain URL-safe without percent-encoding, which keeps links clean and readable across all browsers and platforms.
Should I use hyphens or underscores in URL slugs?
Use hyphens. Google officially recommends hyphens as word separators in URLs. Underscores cause Google to treat connected words as a single unit — "my_page" is read as one keyword "mypage", while "my-page" is read as two separate keywords "my" and "page". Hyphens also improve readability for human visitors.
Does slug length affect SEO?
Yes, but the guideline is to keep slugs concise and descriptive rather than long. Remove stop words like "a", "the", "and", "of" from slugs when possible. Most SEO guides recommend keeping slugs under 5–7 words. Google truncates long URLs in search results, so a clear, keyword-rich slug is better than a verbose one.
Can I use numbers in URL slugs?
Yes, numbers are fully valid in slugs. They are commonly used for years ("2024-seo-guide"), versions ("python-3-tutorial"), or listicles ("10-best-practices"). Numbers are preserved exactly as-is by this converter.
What happens to symbols like @, #, and & in slugs?
Most special characters and symbols are stripped from slugs because they are either reserved in URLs (# starts a fragment, & separates parameters) or require percent-encoding which makes URLs ugly. Exceptions: hyphens and underscores used as separators are preserved or standardized based on your chosen separator setting.
Should slugs always be lowercase?
Yes. URLs are technically case-sensitive on most servers, meaning /Blog/Post and /blog/post could be two different pages, causing duplicate content issues. Always use lowercase slugs and set up redirects to enforce them. This converter lowercases everything by default.
What is the difference between a slug and a permalink?
A slug is just the text identifier portion of a URL (e.g., "my-article-title"), while a permalink (permanent link) is the complete URL structure including the domain and path (e.g., "https://example.com/blog/my-article-title"). The slug is one component of the permalink.
Can I change a slug after publishing without hurting SEO?
Changing a published slug can hurt SEO if you do not set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. Without a redirect, any backlinks and search rankings pointing to the old URL are lost. If you must change a slug, always implement a permanent redirect and update internal links.
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