If you’re new to SEO, you’ve probably come across the phrase slug a lot. If you’re using Yoast SEO, you’ve probably noticed color-coded accents in your dashboard to help you optimize your slug.
So what is Slug?
What is Slug In SEO?
In WordPress, a slug is the section of a URL that defines or describes what that specific page is all about.
If you look at the URL slug for this page, for example, it reads: the URL, where the slug after / immediately tells you what the content, post, or page will be about.
Why Slug In SEO Is Important?
Now that you know what a slug is in SEO, you must realize that a slug has a significant impact on your page’s rating.
Because the slug is the first thing that search engine crawlers see, it’s critical that you maintain the slug and title of your posts identical. Slugs have an impact on your onsite optimization methods, similar to how title tags have an impact on SEO.
With the appropriate slugs, your website or web page will have SEO-friendly URLs that will not only improve your ranks but also encourage your visitors to click on them.
How Does Slug Impact The Ranking Of Your Blog?
Slugs normally contain the core keyword, which Google’s search engine bots use to rank your webpage. Search engines favor keyword-rich slugs, thus using this method will help your posts rank higher on the search engine results page.
One of the nicest things about making a slug is that it is completely up to you, the page owner. You have complete control over your slug and the keywords you want to rank for. This encourages both search engine crawlers and, eventually, users to click on your link.
If you’re using WordPress, changing the slug for the posts you’re writing is simple. The next part will provide you with a tutorial to help you understand this better.
Tips to Optimize Slug
The work of editing a slug is just half completed. The remaining 50 percent consists of performance and SEO optimization. Slug optimization is critical since it increases the visibility of your website and guarantees that it reaches your target audience.
The importance of slug optimization cannot be overstated. Here are some short insights to help you understand how to handle this.
1: Focus Keywords Should Be Included
In your slug, always include the term you’re concentrating on. Make it a habit to do this before publishing any of your pieces. The target keyword is the one you want to rank for the most. You may verify if the target keyword is present in your slug using tools like Yoast SEO for help.
2: Using Stop Words Isn’t a Good Idea
In a URL structure, stop words are phrases or words that aren’t needed. They are words that, even if omitted, would make your slug meaningful. Articles, numerals, prepositions, and other elements, for example, make a URL structure overly long.
3: Keep it brief.
Short slugs are appealing to the eye, are easily understood by visitors, and are also SEO-friendly. Returning to the previous example, aromatherapy-benefits-for-beginners is really short and exact.
One reason for this is because individuals would occasionally look for aromatherapy advantages for beginners directly. When this happens, your slug will match the search word perfectly and will be accessible to your audience.
5: Use lowercase letters.
This is a minor point that ought to be discussed. When modifying your slug, make sure all of the words are in lowercase. There’s a technical rationale for how it reads and appears in the end. Lowercase letters are interpreted differently by web servers like Apache than uppercase characters.
6: Dashes are used to separate words.
In a slug, always use the letter “-” to separate your words. This is standard procedure, so if you’ve been using another character, switch to “-” right now.
Conclusion!
Slug optimization is a quick and easy approach to improve your website’s internet presence. Slug tweaking and optimization isn’t difficult or time-consuming. All you need is some hands-on experience with various slug architectures in order to determine the optimal technique to create your slug.
