1. Short and meaningful Short slugs work well when they stay around three words long. Easy to recall, simple to pass along, likely to rise in search results. Take /on-page-seo-tips - beats a longer version every time. Lengthy paths like /here-are-some-useful-tips-for-on-page-seo-optimization just drag behind. Brevity moves faster. 2. Primary Target Keyword Included Putting the main keyword in the slug matters most. Right there, it matches what people search for. Take "free ai writing tools" - make the address /free-ai-writing-tools. That version works better, clearly tied to the topic. Structure follows purpose, quietly boosting how relevant it seems. 3. use lowercase letters only Always write slugs using lowercase letters. Most web servers notice upper and lower case differences, so mixing them might produce identical-looking pages. That duplication could lead search engines to apply penalties. 4. Separate-Words-With-Hyphens Hyphens help search engines split words cleanly inside web addresses. When Google sees ai-seo-tools, each part stays clear. But underscores blend together - ai_seo_tools becomes a muddled chunk of letters. That confusion can make pages harder to find. Clarity matters just as much as structure. 5. Remove Extra Words Words such as a, the, of, and is stretch things out without helping much. Remove those to make your URL cleaner. Try /ai-content-tools rather than /what-are-the-best-ai-content-tools. 6. Avoid Special Characters and Symbols Some symbols - such as %, &, or ? - mess up web addresses when used directly. Spaces often lead to problems too. Instead of allowing those, a proper URL part sticks to basic letters, digits, separated by dashes only. 7. Keep It Evergreen Most of the time, skip dates in web page names. Pages such as /seo-slug-guide stay useful much longer. But toss in a year like 2023? That one feels old before long. Outdated labels lose trust, slow clicks. Simpler lasts. Names without versions keep working, even years later.