I've been exploring some tracking websites and noticed a pattern in their URL structure. For instance, URLs like `https://anilist.co/manga/53390/Attack-on-Titan/` and `https://myanimelist.net/anime/16498/Shingeki_no_Kyojin` feature both an immutable ID and a mutable slug. I'm curious why they do this. Typically, I thought resource routes should remain constant. If the title (slug) changes, wouldn't that affect SEO and break existing links or bookmarks? I've searched for answers but haven't found a satisfactory explanation.
3 Answers
At the end of the day, it's all about making URLs user-friendly. But I do find that it doesn’t add much value when you still see numbers in the URL.
As long as there's a canonical meta tag linking back to the original URL, changing the title won’t hurt SEO. In the past, it was believed that having readable text in URLs benefited SEO, but that’s not really the case anymore. People just cling to the idea that it's somehow better for readability.
Exactly! It's really just more for the convenience of sharing links.
The slug part of the URL is mainly for readability and can be safely ignored by the server. This way, URLs become easier for people to understand without affecting functionality.
Yeah, and the slug can be changed anytime without causing an issue.
But let's be real, it’s really all about SEO at the end of the day.
Google changed how they score URLs back in May 2007. Before that, having the URL match the query was advantageous, but now it doesn’t really matter as much.