Components: URL Slug#

Guides creation of SEO-friendly URL slugs for blog posts, articles, and content pages. Research on 11.8M Google results shows shorter URLs tend to rank higher; position #1 URLs average 50–60 characters.

When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

Scope#

• URL slug: The path segment after the base (e.g., ai-people-search in /blog/ai-people-search)
• Applies to: Blog posts, articles, guides, category pages, product pages

Best Practices#

Length#

GuidelineTargetSlug lengthUnder 60 characters total (including path prefix)Word count3–5 wordsPrincipleShorter = easier to read, share, remember; less truncation in SERPs; see serp-features

Example: "The Complete Guide to AI Search Engine for Finding People" → ai-people-search (3 words) or ai-search-finding-people (4 words), not ai-search-engine-finding-people-speed-discovery-outreach (9 words, 51 chars).

Format#

RuleDoAvoidSeparatorsHyphens ( -)Underscores ( _), spaces, periodsCaseLowercase onlyMixed case (causes duplicate content)CharactersLetters (a-z), numbers (0-9), hyphensSpecial charsStop wordsRemove when possible: the, a, and, or, toKeep when needed: "how-to"

Content#

RuleGuidelinePrimary keywordInclude near start; one focus per URLDescriptiveClear what page is about from slug aloneNo keyword stuffingOne keyword mention is enoughNo datesOmit unless time-specific (news, annual roundups)

Non-ASCII Characters#

ScenarioRuleAccented lettersConvert to ASCII: é→e, ü→u, ñ→n, ç→cNon-Latin scriptsUse UTF-8 percent-encoding if required; prefer ASCII for compatibilityExamplejalapeno not jalapeño; cafe not café

Common Mistakes#

• Copy-pasting full title: Summarize instead — long title → short slug
• Auto-generated IDs: /post/12847 — always customize
• Tracking params in slug: UTM, session IDs — use query params separately
• Changing without redirect: Always 301 from old to new slug

Slug Generation Workflow#

1. Extract primary keyword from title or target keyword
2. Summarize in 3–5 words (don't copy full title)
3. Remove stop words (the, a, and, or) unless needed for readability
4. Lowercase, hyphenate, validate length < 60 chars
5. Check uniqueness — no duplicate slugs site-wide

Examples#

Title / Topic❌ Too long✅ RecommendedAI Search Engine for Finding People: Speed vs. Discoveryai-search-engine-finding-people-speed-discovery-outreach``ai-people-search or ai-search-finding-peopleThe Ultimate SEO Checklist for 2025the-ultimate-seo-checklist-for-2025``seo-checklist-2025How to Increase Website Traffichow-to-increase-the-traffic-to-your-website``increase-website-trafficBest Running Shoes for Marathon Trainingbest-running-shoes-for-marathon-training-in-2025``best-running-shoes-2025

Output Format#

When creating or auditing a slug:

• Recommended slug (3–5 words)

• Character count (slug only)

• Primary keyword included

• Alternatives if multiple valid options

• Reference: Alignify URL optimization

Related Skills#

• url-structure: URL hierarchy, site structure; references this skill for slug conventions
• canonical-tag: When changing slugs, set up 301 redirects
• article-page-generator: Article URL slugs
• blog-page-generator: Blog post URL slugs
• glossary-page-generator: Glossary term slugs
• products-page-generator: Product page slugs
• customer-stories-page-generator: Case study page slugs
• resources-page-generator: Resource page slugs
• features-page-generator: Per-feature page slugs