How does this slug generator handle accented characters?

This tool transliterates accented and diacritical characters to their closest ASCII equivalents. For example, 'cafe' from 'café', 'uber' from 'über', 'creme brulee' from 'crème brûlée'. It supports a comprehensive map of Latin-based accented characters including French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, and many other languages.

What is the difference between hyphens and underscores in slugs?

Hyphens (-) are the recommended separator for URL slugs because Google treats hyphens as word separators, which helps with SEO. Underscores (_) are treated as word joiners by search engines, so 'web_development' is seen as one word. Dots (.) are sometimes used for file-like paths. For most web content, hyphens are the best choice.

Can I convert multiple titles to slugs at once?

Yes. Switch to Bulk Mode and paste multiple titles, one per line. The tool will convert each line into a slug using your current settings (separator, max length, stop word removal, etc.) and display all results at once. You can then copy all slugs to your clipboard.

Slug Generator - URL Slug Generator Online

How It Works

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Real-Time Conversion

Type or paste any text and see the slug update instantly as you type. No buttons to click, no forms to submit. All processing happens locally in your browser with zero latency.

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Accent Transliteration

Automatically converts accented and diacritical characters to their ASCII equivalents. Handles French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, and many other Latin-based languages.

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SEO-Friendly Output

Remove stop words, set max length with word-boundary truncation, and choose your separator. Generate slugs that are clean, concise, and optimized for search engines and readability.

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Bulk & Filename Mode

Convert multiple titles at once in bulk mode. Use filename mode to slugify file names while preserving extensions like .pdf, .tar.gz, and more.

Understanding URL Slugs

A URL slug is the part of a web address that identifies a specific page in a human-readable form. Good slugs are short, descriptive, and contain relevant keywords separated by hyphens. They play an important role in both user experience and search engine optimization (SEO).

Why Slugs Matter for SEO

Search engines like Google use URL slugs as a ranking signal. A clean, keyword-rich slug helps search engines understand the content of a page. For example, /blog/learn-javascript-basics is far more informative to both users and crawlers than /blog/post?id=12345. Well-crafted slugs improve click-through rates in search results because users can see what the page is about before clicking.

Best Practices for URL Slugs

Use hyphens as separators: Google treats hyphens as word separators, making them the preferred choice over underscores or dots.
Keep it lowercase: URLs are case-sensitive on most servers. Using lowercase consistently avoids duplicate content issues.
Remove stop words: Words like "the", "a", "and", "of" add length without adding value. Remove them for cleaner slugs.
Keep it short: Aim for 3-5 words. Shorter slugs are easier to read, share, and remember.
Use keywords: Include the primary keyword for the page naturally in the slug.
Avoid special characters: Strip punctuation, symbols, and non-ASCII characters to ensure maximum compatibility across browsers and servers.

Slugs in Different Contexts

While URL slugs are the most common use case, slugified strings are also used for database identifiers, file names, CSS class names, Git branch names, and API resource paths. This tool handles all these scenarios with configurable options for separator, casing, and filename extension preservation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a URL slug? ▼

A URL slug is the human-readable, URL-safe portion of a web address that typically comes after the domain name. For example, in https://example.com/blog/how-to-learn-javascript, the slug is "how-to-learn-javascript". Slugs use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens (or other separators) instead of spaces and special characters, making URLs clean, readable, and SEO-friendly.

How does this tool handle accented characters? ▼

This tool transliterates accented and diacritical characters to their closest ASCII equivalents. For example, "café" becomes "cafe", "über" becomes "uber", "crème brûlée" becomes "creme-brulee". It supports a comprehensive map of Latin-based accented characters including French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, and many other languages.

What are stop words and should I remove them? ▼

Stop words are common words like "the", "a", "an", "is", "in", "at", "of", "and", "or" that carry little meaning on their own. Removing them from slugs makes URLs shorter and more focused on keywords. For example, "the-ultimate-guide-to-learning-python" becomes "ultimate-guide-learning-python". This is generally recommended for blog posts and SEO, but optional depending on your preference.

Should I use hyphens or underscores in slugs? ▼

Hyphens (-) are the recommended separator for URL slugs. Google treats hyphens as word separators, so "web-development" is understood as two separate words. Underscores (_) are treated as word joiners, so "web_development" is seen as a single word. For SEO purposes, hyphens are almost always the better choice. Dots (.) can be used for file-like paths or versioned resources.

How does filename slug mode work? ▼

Filename slug mode preserves the file extension while slugifying the rest of the filename. For example, "My Project Report (Final Draft).pdf" becomes "my-project-report-final-draft.pdf". It handles compound extensions like .tar.gz as well. This is useful for generating clean, URL-safe filenames for uploads, downloads, or storage systems.

How does max length with word-boundary truncation work? ▼

When you set a maximum length, the tool truncates the slug at or before the specified character count. Instead of cutting in the middle of a word (which would produce an incomplete word), it finds the last separator before the limit and truncates there. For example, with a max length of 30, "how-to-build-a-rest-api-with-nodejs" would become "how-to-build-a-rest-api-with" rather than "how-to-build-a-rest-api-with-n".

Is my data safe when using this tool? ▼

Yes. This slug generator runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. No data is sent to any server, stored, or logged. All text processing happens locally on your device. You can verify this by disconnecting from the internet and confirming the tool still works.

Slug Generator