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How important are human-readable slug components in a social platform's urls?

2 points by tallerholler ↗ HN
I'm working on a new social platform and we were discussing our url structure. I've noticed that sites like HN, youtube, facebook, and vine use only some type of encoded url fragment and that's it.

e.g. https://vine.co/v/e0mQeEep1IJ

Whereas reddit and others use an encoded fragment AND an optional human-readable component.

e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/3oc22e/this_guys_facial_hair_makes_it_look_like_he_has_a/

Is it safe to use only the encoded fragment and not include the human-readable part? The only reason we considered the human-readable part is for SEO purposes but is that even important at this point?

Any info appreciated thanks!

3 comments

[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 26.1 ms ] thread
dalke
I am more likely to follow links with a human-readable slug because it acts as a double-check that I'm not being baited by the link text. For example, if the text is "You'll never guess what this guy has on his face" and the slug says "this_guys_facial_hair", then I have a better idea of what I'm going to get into.
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tallerholler
that's a good argument for using human readable slug.. definitely