External Links in New Window / New Tab
by WebFactory 4.5 (77 reviews)

External Links in New Window / New Tab

Open external links in a new window or new tab. SEO optimized and XHTML Strict compliant.

External Links in New Window / New Tab ranks #1,050 among WordPress.org plugins with 30,000+ active installations, is #142 of 5,310 in the Utilities & Tools category, a 4.5/5 rating from 77 reviews, and was last updated Aug 16, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Compatible with WP 7.1.4
v1.45 Current Version v1.45
Updated 2 months ago Last Update on 16 Aug, 2026
Refreshed 1 week ago Last Refreshed on
#142 of 5,310 in Utilities & Tools Top 5% by installs Downloads -25.5% this week
View on WordPress.org
Rank
#1,050
— No change
Active Installs
30K+
-8.2%
KW Avg Position
5.4
— No change
Downloads
501.6K
+37 today
Support Resolved
0%
— No change
Rating
90%
Review 4.5 out of 5
4.5 (77 reviews)

Next Milestone 40K

Total Progress 25%
30K+ 40K+
138
Ranks to Climb
-
Growth Needed
8,000,000
Active Installs
Pro

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Rank Changes

998 1,024 1,050 1,076 1,103 31-10-2026 01-11-2026 02-11-2026 03-11-2026 04-11-2026 05-11-2026 06-11-2026 07-11-2026
996 1,022 1,049 1,075 1,101 23-10-2026 24-10-2026 25-10-2026 26-10-2026 27-10-2026 28-10-2026 29-10-2026 30-10-2026 31-10-2026 01-11-2026 02-11-2026 03-11-2026 04-11-2026 05-11-2026 06-11-2026 07-11-2026
Current #1,050
Change
Best #

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Active Installs Growth

Active Installs 0,000,000+
Growth +0.0%
Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 31-10-2026 01-11-2026 02-11-2026 03-11-2026 04-11-2026 05-11-2026 06-11-2026 07-11-2026
0 100 200 23-10-2026 24-10-2026 25-10-2026 26-10-2026 27-10-2026 28-10-2026 29-10-2026 30-10-2026 31-10-2026 01-11-2026 02-11-2026 03-11-2026 04-11-2026 05-11-2026 06-11-2026 07-11-2026
Downloads
Growth
Peak

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Reviews & Ratings

4.5
77 reviews
Overall 90%
5
67 (87%)
4
0 (0%)
3
0 (0%)
2
3 (4%)
1
7 (9%)

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

3 known vulnerabilities on record · 0 in the last 24 months · checked 2 weeks ago

  1. External Links in New Window / New Tab [open-external-links-in-a-new-window] < 1.43

    CVE-2022-1583 · Fixed in v1.43

  2. External Links in New Window / New Tab [open-external-links-in-a-new-window] < 1.43

    CVE-2022-1582 · Fixed in v1.43

  3. External Links in New Window / New Tab [open-external-links-in-a-new-window] < 1.43

    Fixed in v1.43

TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners who want external links to open in a new window or tab without breaking valid markup. It solves the problem of most similar plugins using non-XHTML-Strict-compliant target-attribute hacks by instead handling links client-side with JavaScript, keeping the code SEO friendly and standards compliant.

  • Opens external links in new tab
  • Opens external links in new window
  • Force specific URLs to new window
  • Ignore specific URLs
  • XHTML Strict compliant code
  • SEO optimized
  • Uses vanilla JavaScript, no jQuery
  • Inactive gracefully without JavaScript

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about External Links in New Window / New Tab

External Links in New Window / New Tab has 30,000+ active installations on the WordPress.org plugin directory.
External Links in New Window / New Tab holds a 4.5 out of 5 star rating based on 77 user reviews on WordPress.org.
External Links in New Window / New Tab is developed by WebFactory and published on the official WordPress.org plugin repository.
External Links in New Window / New Tab requires WordPress 4.0 or higher, is tested up to WordPress 7.1.4 and needs PHP 5.2 or newer.
External Links in New Window / New Tab has been downloaded 501,554+ times from WordPress.org.
The latest version of External Links in New Window / New Tab is 1.45. It was last updated on August 16, 2026.
Yes. External Links in New Window / New Tab is a free WordPress plugin available to download and install from the WordPress.org plugin directory.

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