A slug is a human-readable identifier used in the path portion of a URL. For example, in https://example.com/blog/seo-tips, seo-tips is the slug. Many CMS platforms like WordPress use slugs to determine article and page URLs.

For SEO, including target keywords in slugs is recommended. Short, descriptive slugs with words separated by hyphens are ideal for both search engines and users. SEO URL optimization guides teach slug design best practices.

Slugs typically use ASCII characters (lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens). While non-ASCII characters are possible, they get URL-encoded and become lengthy, so English slugs are preferred.

Aim for 3-5 words (under 50-60 characters) in slugs. Remove unnecessary stop words (a, the, and) and focus on core keywords to create concise, effective slugs. Web architecture and SEO books cover URL structure optimization.