SLUG

What does Slug mean in marketing terminology?

Slug

A slug is the part of a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that typically identifies a page or post with a few words, based on the page or post title. In other words, it is the segment of a URL that comes after the domain name and before any query parameters.

For example, a URL could read, ‘www.examplewebsite.com/slug-example’. Here, we can see the ‘slug’ is ‘slug-example’.

Slugs are typically helpful for search engine optimisation (SEO). ‘Slug-example’ would tell the user, upon reaching the page, what the page content is about. Furthermore, it would enable search engine crawlers to help the page rank for that term.

Creating the best slug for a page or post is essential for several reasons. It can help your pages and posts rank better in search engine results, and it also helps your users engage with your content more efficiently.

When you’re creating a slug for your page, it’s important to pay attention to the words you use. Choose only the most important and relevant words, ideally two to three words. The key is to ensure it accurately reflects the page and the content.

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It is also important to make sure your slugs are easy to read, concise and not too long. This is because search engines and users prefer shorter slugs. Search engines want to keep URLs as short as possible, while users prefer shorter URLs because they’re easier to remember.

Avoid making slugs too confusing by avoiding overly technical language whenever possible. Instead, use language that people use to search for content and that also accurately reflects the content. Use words with the highest search volume and relevance when possible.

It is also essential to make sure the slug you create is unique for each page on your website. The reason for this is because having multiple pages with the same slug in the URL can confuse the user. This can also lead to confusion for search engines and cause them to mark your content as duplicate, resulting in reduced rankings over time.

Make sure you use only lowercase characters in the slug. While you could use upper-case letters, search engines could classify the page differently due to the mixed case. This could lead to confusion for search engine crawlers and, eventually, cause your content to be overlooked and not ranked well.

It is helpful to make sure your slug doesn’t include any special characters such as underscores, dashes, hyphens, brackets, or decipherable punctuation marks. These special characters can be read differently by the search engine and cause your content to be marked as less relevant or even duplicate content.



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