Peadig

rel=”external” is now the XHTML valid version that informs search engine spiders that the link is external. However, using this does not open the link in a new window. target=”_blank” and target=”_new” does this, but is not XHTML valid.
This very simple plugin adds a small JS file to your header to let this happen!
<ul>
<li><a href="http://pleer.co.uk/wordpress/plugins/rel-external/" rel="nofollow ugc">rel=”external”</a> plugin homepage.</li>
<li>More <a href="http://pleer.co.uk/wordpress/plugins/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Plugins</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://pleer.co.uk/wordpress/plugins/facebook-comments/" rel="nofollow ugc">Facebook Comments</a> Plugin</li>
<li><a href="http://pleer.co.uk/wordpress/plugins/wp-twitter-feed/" rel="nofollow ugc">Twitter Feed</a> Plugin</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/alexmossSEO" rel="nofollow ugc">Follow @alexmossSEO on Twitter</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://alex-moss.co.uk/" rel="nofollow ugc">Alex Moss</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://pleer.co.uk/" rel="nofollow ugc">Pleer SEO</a>.</li>
</ul>

rel=”external” in a New Window

Opens a new window with rel="external" instead of having to use target="_blank" or target="_new"

etalented

This plugin will solve the problem of manually changing all your external links to open in a new window by doing it automatically for you…for all external links in all posts and pages!
This plugin uses standard HTML and doesn’t introduce any more JavaScript into your already JavaScript heavy WordPress site. It also uses very minimal styling (CSS) to display a new window icon, which is embedded and not externally linked.
The display of the new window icon can be changed in the settings page and you can also add the <code>rel="nofollow"</code> attribute. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow" rel="nofollow ugc">Read more about <code>rel="nofollow"</code> on Wikipedia</a>.
Updates to the plugin will be posted on the <a href="https://etalented.co.uk/wordpress-plugin-external-links-to-new-window" rel="nofollow ugc">Etalented website</a> as well as to the <a href="https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/external-links-to-new-window/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress.org Plugin Directory</a>.
Originally created by <a href="http://thisismyurl.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Christopher Ross</a> and now authored by <a href="https://etalented.co.uk" rel="nofollow ugc">Etalented</a>.

External Links to New Window

Open all external links in your blog posts and pages automatically in a new tab or new window when clicked or tapped.

rel=”external” in a New Window vs External Links to New Window