What's inside this article:
About URL Slugs
What is a URL Slug?
A URL Slug is a text string that is added as part of the URL for a content page. URL Slugs can only be applied for content pages (such as Articles, Feature stories, Videos, and Photo galleries). For other pages (such as Sections and Infopages) you can create a Custom URL. Information about the Custom URL feature is available here:
What are the benefits of using URL Slugs?
Applying effective URL Slugs for content pages has the following benefits:
- Improved user experience, as it is clear where the user will go after clicking the link.
- URLs that include keywords might be ranked more highly by search engines.
- Consistent use of effective URLs boosts the authority of your domain for search engines.
Can I apply a URL Slug in any language?
Yes. It is recommended to always create URL Slugs in the local language for your site.
The URL Slug feature supports Unicode, so you can create a URL Slug using non-Latin script (shown in the example below):
- https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/ოთხნი-სათიბეში/32206399.html
You can also enable automatic transliteration for your site. More information here:
What is best practice for creating URL Slugs?
Information about best practice is available here:
Can I change an existing URL Slug?
If a content page has already been indexed by search engines, changing the URL will cause broken links from results pages. It might take several months before search engines recognize the new URL. For this reason, we do not recommend changing the URL Slug for an already published page.
When the status of the page is Published, the URL Slug field is locked and cannot be edited. Only if required, set the status to Draft, then edit the URL Slug.
Apply a URL Slug
To apply a URL Slug via the edit screen for a content page:
- Go to General in the left panel.
- Provide the Title for the content page.
- Hit Convert to slug (or Transliterate to slug). The full Title is converted to URL format and appears in the URL Slug box.
- Optimize the URL Slug. We do not recommend using the full title. More information here:
Hit Save or Save & close to confirm and apply your preferences. Be aware that if the status of the page is Published, you will not be able to go back and adjust the URL Slug. The URL Slug remains editable while the status of the page is Draft.
Rules and recommendations
We do not recommend applying the full title as the URL Slug. Consider the following optimizations:
- Remove words with no semantic value, such as a and the.
- Remove prepositions and linking words (and, of, at, etc.).
- Ensure the slug is a human-readable phrase (not a list of keywords).
- Position keywords at the start of the slug (if possible).
- Use only lower-case letters.
- Always use the local language for your site.
- If the local language for your site uses non-Latin script, consider enabling automatic transliteration.
Examples of how to optimize an automatically generated slug:
- Automatic slug:
- hundreds-of-russians-reportedly-fighting-for-ukraine-around-bakhmut
- Optimized slug:
- ukraine-russians-fighting-bakhmut-legion
- Automatic slug:
- belarus-s-lukashenka-in-zimbabwe-on-trip-aimed-at-increasing-cooperation-with-russian-ally
- Optimized slug:
- belarus-lukashenka-visit-zimbabwe
- Automatic slug:
- at-least-three-killed-in-suicide-attack-on-convoy-in-pakistan-s-north-waziristan
- Optimized slug:
- pakistan-suicide-attack-north-waziristan-convoy
Enable automatic transliteration
Transliteration is the process of systematically converting one system of writing to another based on phonetic similarity. For example, д in Cyrillic script is often transliterated to d in Latin script.
Pangea offers the automatic transliteration tool, which automatically transliterates URL Slugs to Latin script. See an example of a transliterated URL Slug below:
- https://www.svoboda.org/a/gudbay-armeniya-proschay-navsegda-/32338902.html
Automatic transliteration is recommended, as URLs containing non-Latin script might not be properly rendered when shared via platforms without Unicode support. However, it is possible to use non-Latin script for URL Slugs if preferred. See an example below:
- https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/ოთხნი-სათიბეში/32206399.html
When automatic transliteration is enabled, the Transliterate to slug button appears on edit screens instead of Convert to slug.
To enable automatic transliteration for your site, contact Pangea Customer Care.
