When managing a WordPress website, it’s essential to have full control over how external links are handled. One common best practice is to open all external links in a new tab or window, which ensures users remain on your website while exploring linked content. Targeting blank for all external links is a simple yet effective way to improve user experience and website navigation. In this post, we’ll explore how to easily achieve this functionality using a WordPress function. By doing so, you can optimize the browsing experience for your users while keeping them engaged with your content.
Why Open External Links in a New Tab?
Opening external links in a new tab or window provides several benefits for both user experience and SEO. It allows users to explore other sites without leaving your page, ensuring that your website remains accessible. This can reduce bounce rates and encourage visitors to explore additional pages or content on your site. Moreover, it keeps visitors engaged with your site, which is an essential part of optimizing user retention. By using this technique, you can provide a seamless browsing experience that encourages longer visits and more interactions.
The Benefits for User Experience
User experience (UX) is at the core of website optimization, and how you handle external links can have a significant impact. By opening links in a new tab, you allow users to return to your site without losing their place or having to use the back button. This helps improve user satisfaction, as they don’t have to go through the process of navigating back to your page. Additionally, it keeps your site in the foreground, reducing the chances of your visitors abandoning it for other websites. This simple change can make a significant difference in how users interact with your content.
How to Target Blank for External Links with WordPress
To make all external links open in a new tab, WordPress provides several options, but the most efficient way is to use a function in your theme’s functions.php file. By adding a custom function, you can ensure that all external links across your website are set to target a blank window automatically. Adding custom code gives you full control over the way external links behave on your site. In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps of adding this function to your WordPress theme. This approach is not only simple but also effective for large sites with many pages.
Adding the Function to Your Theme’s functions.php
To implement this functionality, you’ll need to add a small snippet of code to your theme’s functions.php file. Before proceeding, make sure to back up your website to avoid any potential issues. Open the functions.php file from your WordPress dashboard under Appearance > Theme Editor. Then, insert the following code:
function open_external_links_in_new_tab($content) {
$content = preg_replace('/<a(.*?)href="(http[s]?://(?!'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].')[^"]*)"(.*?)>/i', '<a$1href="$2"$3 target="_blank">', $content);
return $content;
}
add_filter('the_content', 'open_external_links_in_new_tab');
add_filter('widget_text', 'open_external_links_in_new_tab');
add_filter('widget_text_content', 'open_external_links_in_new_tab'); This code will ensure that all external links on your website automatically open in a new tab. After saving the file, check your site to ensure the function works as expected.
Targeting Only External Links
The key aspect of this function is targeting only external links. External links are those that point to domains outside your own website. This ensures that internal links, which are essential for site navigation and SEO, are not affected. By using a regular expression, the code specifically looks for URLs that don’t match your site’s domain. This prevents the function from modifying internal links, keeping your internal SEO structure intact.
WordPress Plugins to Target External Links
If you’re not comfortable editing the functions.php file directly, several WordPress plugins can automate this process for you. Plugins like "External Links" or "WP External Links" allow you to manage external links easily and configure them to open in a new tab. These plugins offer a user-friendly interface for managing external links without requiring any coding knowledge. They also offer additional features, such as the ability to add nofollow attributes to external links, which can help with SEO. However, using plugins might slightly increase your website’s load time, so it’s important to balance convenience with performance.
SEO Considerations for External Links
From an SEO perspective, the practice of opening external links in a new tab doesn’t directly impact rankings. However, it can indirectly improve user experience and retention, which are factors that search engines like Google consider when ranking websites. When external links open in a new tab, users are less likely to leave your website entirely, which reduces bounce rates and increases the time spent on site. These factors, combined with the high-quality content on your site, can help improve your overall SEO performance. Therefore, while opening external links in a new tab doesn’t directly affect SEO, it can help create a positive impact on site engagement.
Enhancing the User Experience with Nofollow Links
When you set external links to open in a new tab, you may also want to consider adding the "nofollow" attribute to certain links. Nofollow links tell search engines not to pass link equity to the linked page, which can be particularly useful for sponsored content or affiliate links. You can combine nofollow with the “target=_blank” attribute to ensure that external links don’t affect your SEO strategy. By adding both attributes, you can control the flow of link equity and maintain a natural backlink profile.
Testing Your Implementation
After you’ve added the function to your theme’s functions.php file or installed a plugin, it’s essential to test the functionality on your website. Test links in various sections of your website, including posts, pages, and sidebar widgets, to ensure that the new tab behavior works correctly. It’s also helpful to check the behavior in different browsers and devices to guarantee a consistent experience for all users. If you find that some links are not opening in a new tab, double-check the code or plugin settings. Testing ensures that your site provides the intended user experience.
Best Practices for External Links
While targeting blank for all external links can improve user engagement, it’s important to use external links responsibly. Here are some best practices for working with external links:
- Only link to reputable external websites to maintain your site’s credibility.
- Ensure that external links are relevant to your content to provide value to your users.
- Use nofollow for paid or affiliate links to avoid passing link equity unnecessarily.
- Avoid excessive linking to external sites, as this can distract users from your main content.
- Regularly check external links to make sure they’re still active and relevant.
- Keep track of outbound links and their impact on your site’s performance.
- Provide context for external links so users know what to expect when they click.
The Importance of Balanced Linking
- External links should enhance, not distract from, your own content.
- Always prioritize user experience over SEO manipulation.
- Use external links to support your authority and expertise in your niche.
- Limit external links in high-conversion areas like landing pages or product pages.
- Test external links regularly to avoid broken links.
- Avoid excessive outbound links to maintain focus on your content.
- Use external links sparingly but meaningfully to benefit both users and SEO.
| Step | Action | Expected Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Add Code | Add function to `functions.php` | External links open in a new tab |
| Test Links | Test functionality across pages and devices | Ensures consistent behavior |
| Check SEO | Analyze site’s user engagement | Improved retention and reduced bounce rate |
By ensuring that all external links open in a new tab, you can enhance your site’s user experience and engagement. This simple yet powerful practice helps maintain visitors on your site while they explore related content, ultimately benefiting both your users and your SEO strategy.
Incorporating this technique into your WordPress website can significantly improve the way your users interact with external content. Opening links in a new tab ensures that your site stays front and center, allowing visitors to explore other websites without losing track of your content. Take a moment to evaluate your current external linking strategy and consider how implementing this feature could enhance user engagement on your site. If you found this guide helpful, share it with others in your WordPress community and help them optimize their websites for better user retention!