Do you ponder why certain external hyperlinks on your WordPress site feature the puzzling rel=”noopener noreferrer” tag? 

Rest assured, it is not a useless statement; it is crucial to the security of your website and the experience of its users. But just what does this mean, and will it affect any SEO efforts you may be putting into your site? In this easy-to-follow guide, let’s find out what this is and how you can benefit from it.

What is rel=”noopener noreferrer”?

Adding rel=”noopener noreferrer” to external links is meant for security and privacy purposes.

The noopener ensures that the linked page can’t access the window object of the referring page. This helps limit any potential security risks.

Noreferrer keeps the destination site safe from tracking referral data thus preventing any details from being shared pertaining to the originating site. These attributes are great for added user privacy and security overall.

Source: Linkbuilder

Expert opinion

In the interconnected web landscape, understanding seemingly simple concepts like “noopener noreferrer” empowers you to create a safer and more optimized online experience. By prioritizing responsible linking practices, you protect your website, its visitors, and your online reputation.

Itamar Haim

Noreferrer

The rel=”noreferrer” attribute hides the source of traffic in the analytics platforms of the sites you link to. Normally, when visitors arrive at a site via a link, the website owner can see the URL of the referring site in their analytics. However, by using rel=”noreferrer”, this referral data is hidden, and the traffic is recorded as direct traffic instead of referral traffic. 

For example, when a website owner looks at their Google Analytics and sees traffic coming from a link, it will be marked as direct traffic rather than referral traffic. So, if you’ve noticed a sudden increase in direct traffic, this could be the reason. You can apply the rel=”noreferrer” attribute to links, whether or not they open in a new tab.

The rel=”noreferrer” tag appears like this:

Source: Elegant

Expert opinion

Consider using rel=“noreferrer” if you want to link to a competitor but don’t want them to see your article. Or use it if you don’t trust the site you want to link to.

Stewart Dunlop
Stewart Dunlop

Founder, LinkBuilder.io

Noopener

The noopener tag is essential to prevent your site from cyberattacks, especially those that exploit the vulnerability of reverse tabnapping.

1.34% of people have experienced cyber scams during the past 12 months, with many falling victim to increasingly sophisticated tactics. One such method is reverse tabnapping, which is when a link is set to open a new tab with malicious code injected by hackers that redirects the original page. When a link is clicked, it opens a new tab, but the original page can still be redirected to a harmful site.

This approach is most typically used in phishing to deceive users into giving out sensitive information or login details and even downloading malware. The fact that a user will be aware of the source from which such a link would have come makes this strategy all the more successful.

Using with rel=”nofollow”

This is a means of linking management using rel=nofollow when linking to other sites without endorsing those pages or transferring SEO value. Google encourages using such a tag when these signals cannot be confirmed or passed to a linked page. This constitutes a beneficial means for connecting to dubious sites, sponsored content, irrelevant links, etc., thereby securing your website’s reputation and preventing negative search ranking effects.

An example of using nofollow is in the comment sections of blogs. Many blogs apply this tag to safeguard themselves from spam, either from bots or users who usually do not have any contribution to the discussions. This protects the website from dangerous linking and offers a better user experience without any unwanted links.

When linking to sponsored content, ads, or user-generated content, nofollow is advisable. Whenever you wish not to pass an SEO value to the page you are linking to, using nofollow is the right way to make quality links and maintain stability on your website.

  • Summary
The attributes rel=”noopener”, rel=”noreferrer”, and rel=”nofollow” work together to protect users from harmful websites. They also help maintain privacy by preventing referral data tracking and improve SEO by avoiding the transfer of SEO value to unwanted pages.

How to use the tag?

Adding the rel=”noopener noreferrer” attribute to your HTML links is simple:

<a href=”https://www.example.com” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Visit Example Website</a> 

This tag prevents malicious websites from accessing your data and reduces the risk of security vulnerabilities, such as reverse tabnapping.

In WordPress, this tag automatically comes into play for any link that opens in a new tab or window. This is a built-in time-saver and is consistent in ensuring that all external links are well protected.

Of course, it is good practice to use rel=”noopener noreferrer” for anything outside, but you can make exceptions:

  • Esteemed Sites: This tag may be left off for links to highly reputed or famed websites.
  • Internal Links: No application of this tag for links within your own site. Internal links are much needed for SEO and site navigability. Thus, applying this attribute on them can weaken your backlink strategy.
  • Important:
The rel=”noopener noreferrer” tag attributes made utmost security to protect users against vicious websites and prevent reverse tab-napping. It should be applied for external links opening in a new tab; don’t use it for trusted websites or internal links to ensure efficacious SEO and backlink strategy.

How rel=’noopener noreferrer’ Impacts SEO?

Using the rel=”noopener noreferrer” attribute in external links doesn’t negatively affect your SEO strategy. Neither of these attributes will lower your site’s technical SEO ranking. In fact, using noopener alongside target=”_blank” can actually enhance on-page SEO, as users will remain on your website even when they navigate to another page.

  • Opposite view:
Because you are not using noreferrer, Google won’t acknowledge your link to other websites. The results can vary as the site owners will find that you don’t recognize their links. Hence, you miss the chance of mutual linking.

If website owners cannot see the referral traffic from you in their analytics, they won’t know it’s coming from your site. While backlinks from other sites to your website are not always guaranteed, not providing referral traffic data could limit this possibility.

Conclusion

The rel=”noopener noreferrer” attribute really makes sense and is also a safe way to deal with external links on your website. By adding such attributes, it can prevent users from several possible security threats like reverse tabnapping and also applies to blockade referral data tracking. The rel attribute secures and helps to maintain essential privacy as far as external linking is concerned without an ounce of negative on your SEO.

Be that as it may, do not apply it, for instance, to a trustworthy site or an internal link. Such usages of rel=”noopener noreferrer” can harm your backlink strategy and consequently damage your SEO effectiveness. Therefore, finding the right balance in using these attributes is a simple way to make sure that your website is still safe while maintaining optimal SEO health.

Frequently Asked Questions

The relation attribute “noopener noreferrer” prevents malicious attacks such as reverse tabnapping and stops the tracking of referer data. It further aspires towards user privacy. This relation is mostly assigned to external links to prevent such threats.

The rel=”noopener noreferrer” attribute prevents security risks like reverse tabnapping and blocks referral data tracking, protecting user privacy.

It is basically used only for external links that largely open in a new tab because it helps secure the user experience by avoiding vulnerabilities and has privacy settings in that referral data is not passed.

No, because it affects your backlink strategy and thus affects the internal linking, which is important for SEO and navigation across the site.

Yes, it’s recommended for external links unless they lead to highly trusted sites. It enhances security without harming SEO