How a WordPress permalink slug works
Settings → Permalinks. Use /%postname%/ and stop there. Dates in the URL lock you into a calendar. Categories in the URL lock you into a taxonomy you will want to redo. A flat yoursite.com/season-cast-iron-skillet can move. This generator only builds that last segment — the WordPress slug.
If the site is already on dated permalinks, do not flip the whole archive unless you can redirect every old path. New posts can still get a short slug inside an old structure.
Rename after publish, then check the old URL
WordPress tries to remember the previous slug and 301 it. In a clean install, that works. With a cache plugin sitting on the rewrite rules, it sometimes does not. After you change a live permalink, open the old address in a private window. If it 404s, add a redirect yourself.
If the post already has decent backlinks, leave the slug alone unless it is wrong. A slightly long permalink that never changes beats a “perfect” one you rewrite twice.
What to type into this slug generator
Match the topic, not the joke in the parentheses. Drop the year unless the piece is tied to a tax year. Keep product names. Skip “guide” and “updated”. The box will strip filler words if you leave that on. Pages and posts share the same slug space. If a page owns about, a post cannot. WordPress will append -2. Pick a different path instead of publishing that.