Peadig

<p>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.</p>
<p>This very simple plugin adds a small JS file to your header to let this happen!</p>
<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"

WebFactory

<p><strong>Manage all external & internal links on your site</strong>. Control icons, nofollow, noopener, ugc (User Generated Content), sponsored and if links open in new window or new tab.</p>
<p><a href="https://getwplinks.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">WP Links</a> plugin was completely rebuilt in v2 and has lots of new features, like noopener, ugc and sponsored values for rel; font icons, internal links options and full WPMU support.</p>
<h4>Link Scanner – PRO feature</h4>
<p>Check every single link on your site! See if it’s broken or not, if it’s redirected, what’s the target and rel attribute and what page exactly it’s linking to. This feature is a part of the <a href="https://getwplinks.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">WP Links PRO</a> plugin.</p>
<h4>Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Manage external and internal links</li>
<li>Open links in new window or tab</li>
<li>Add follow or nofollow (for SEO)</li>
<li>Add noopener and noreferrer (for security)</li>
<li>Add ugc (User Generated Content) and sponsored values to rel (<a href="https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2019/09/evolving-nofollow-new-ways-to-identify.html" rel="nofollow ugc">Google announcement</a>)</li>
<li>Add link icons (FontAwesome and Dashicons)</li>
<li>Set other attributes like title and CSS classes</li>
<li>Scan complete page (or just posts, comments, widgets)</li>
<li>SEO friendly</li>
<li>Link Scanner – check all links on your site – PRO feature</li>
<li>Exit Confirmation – protect visitors and traffic when external links are clicked – PRO feature</li>
<li>Link Rules – create advanced link rules for chosen link groups – PRO feature</li>
</ul>
<h4>And more…</h4>
<ul>
<li>Network Settings (WPMU support)</li>
<li>Use template tag to apply plugin settings on specific contents</li>
<li>Set data-attribute to change how individual links will be treated</li>
<li>Use built-in actions and filters to implement your specific needs</li>
</ul>
<h4>Easy to use</h4>
<p>After activating you can set all options for external and internal links on the plugins admin page.</p>
<h4>On the fly</h4>
<p>The plugin filters the output and changes the links on the fly. The real contents (posts, pages, widget etcetera) will not be changed in the database.<br />
When deactivating the plugin, all contents will be the same as it was before.</p>
<h4>GDPR compatibility</h4>
<p>We are not lawyers. Please do not take any of the following as legal advice.<br />
WP External Links does not track, collect or process any user data. Nothing is logged or pushed to any 3rd parties. We also don’t use any 3rd party services or CDNs. Based on that, we feel it’s GDPR compatible, but again, please, don’t take this as legal advice.</p>
<p><strong>Like the plugin?</strong> <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/wp-external-links" rel="ugc">Rate it</a> to support the development.</p>
<p>If you’re having <strong>problems with SSL or HTTPS</strong> try our free <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-force-ssl/" rel="ugc">WP Force SSL</a> plugin. It’s a great way to enable SSL and fix SSL problems.</p>
<h3>Documentation</h3>
<p>After activating you can set all options for external and internal links.</p>
<h4>Data attribute “data-wpel-link”</h4>
<p>Links being processed by this plugin will also contain the data-attribute <code>data-wpel-link</code>.<br />
The plugin could set the value to <code>external</code>, <code>internal</code> or <code>exclude</code>, meaning how the<br />
link was processed.</p>
<p>You can also set the data-attribute yourself. This way you can force how the plugin will process<br />
certain links.</p>
<p>When you add the value <code>ignore</code>, the link will be completely ignored by the plugin:</p>
<pre><code><a href="http://somedomain.com" data-wpel-link="ignore">Go to somedomain</a>
</code></pre>
<h4>Action “wpel_link”</h4>
<p>Use this action to change the link object after all plugin settings have been applied.</p>
<pre><code>add_action( 'wpel_link', ( $link_object ) {
    if ( $link_object->is_external() ) {
        // get current url
        $url = $link_object->getAttribute( 'href' );

        // set redirect url
        $redirect_url = '//somedom.com?url='. urlencode( $url );
        $link_object->setAttribute( 'href', $redirect_url );
    }
}, 10, 1 );
</code></pre>
<p>The link object is an instance of <code>WPEL_Link</code> class.</p>
<h4>Action hook “wpel_before_apply_link”</h4>
<p>Use this action to change the link object before the plugin settings will be applied on the link.<br />
You can use this filter f.e. to ignore individual links from being processed. Or change dynamically how<br />
they will be treated by this plugin.</p>
<pre><code>add_action( 'wpel_before_apply_link', function ( $link ) {
    // ignore links with class "some-cls"
    if ( $link->has_attr_value( 'class', 'some-cls' ) ) {
        $link->set_ignore();
    }

    // mark and treat links with class "ext-cls" as external link
    if ( $link->has_attr_value( 'class', 'ext-cls' ) ) {
        $link->set_external();
    }
}, 10 );
</code></pre>
<h4>Filter hook “wpel_apply_settings”</h4>
<p>When filter returns false the plugin settings will not be applied. Can be used when f.e. certain posts or pages should be ignored by this plugin.</p>
<pre><code>add_filter( 'wpel_apply_settings', '__return_false' );
</code></pre>
<p>See <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-external-links/faq/" rel="ugc">FAQ</a> for more info.</p>


External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window


Broken Link Checker is a better free option. It does what this plugin does and also scans your links for free.


there are better free options

Internal links & external links manager: open in new window or tab, control nofollow, ugc, sponsored & noopener. SEO friendly.

rel=”external” in a New Window vs External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window