What is rel=“noopener” in WordPress?

What is rel=“noopener” in WordPress?

Well, this is the most asked questions of many curious minds who want to understand WordPress properly. So, what does it refer to? As you select an open link in a new window, then WordPress opts for adding this attribute along with your link.

However, the rel=“noopener” in your WordPress has a great role to play, which can affect your website in various ways. So, let’s know more about it:

What does the rel=“noopener” in WordPress refer to?

The rel=“noopener” in WordPress comes as an HTML attribute that gets added to all WordPress links, which are selected for opening a new browser tab.
The rel=”noopener” in WordPress gets accompanied with the rel= “noreferrer” attribute. This feature has the purpose of addressing the vulnerability in the site security, which can get exploited through malicious websites.

Also, it works with some of the JavaScript features, which allows a new tab to have complete control over its refereeing window. As you link an external website that is affected with malicious code, the website can use the window.opener JavaScript property.

It will help in changing the original page to steal the information and the spreading of the malicious code.

In this case, the addition of the rel=“noopener” in WordPress helps in various ways. It effectively prevents the new tabs from taking advantage of this JavaScript feature.

At the same time, the rel= “noreferrer” attribute prevents the passing of the referrer information to a completely new tab.

WordPress is highly focused on delivering beneficial security to websites. As you go forward to add a link and then select the “Open in New Tab”, WordPress tends to make the addition of the rel=”noopener” and the rel=”noreferrer” to the link code.

What effects can the rel=”noopener” have on your WordPress SEO?

The rel=“noopener” in WordPress is used for improving WordPress security. However, sometimes people try to avoid it for various reasons as they think that it can impact their SEO.

However, it is nothing but just a myth! The rel=”noopener” has no impact on WordPress SEO ranking. Also, it does not impact the overall performance of your WordPress.

How noopener differ from the nofollow?

Most of the time, users tend to confuse between rel=”noopener” and rel=”nofollow”. However, these two are completely different.

The noopener is dedicated to preventing your website from cross-site hacking. Also, it tends to improve WordPress security. On the other hand, nofollow prevents your website from passing on the SEO link extracts to another linked website.

Can rel=“noreferrer” in WordPress affect your affiliate links?

The rel=“noreferrer” is not capable of affecting affiliate links. However, some of the users believe that it does have some effect as it prevents the passing of the referrer information towards a completely new tab.

However, most affiliate programs come up with a new unique URL that includes your affiliate ID. Your affiliate ID passes along as an URL parameter for other websites for tracking purposes.

Also, many of the affiliate markets use the link cloaking plugin for their affiliate links. With link cloaking, your website redirects the users to the targeted URL.

How do you disable rel=“noopener” in WordPress?

There is no need to remove the rel=“noopener” in WordPress from the links on your website. It is good for the security of your website. At the same time, it neither affects the SEO nor does it impact WordPress performance.

Still, if you want to remove it, then you can easily do it by disabling the Gutenberg block editor in WordPress and use the classic editor. After that, you need to add a code to functions.php in the theme.

Here is the code:

add_filter('tiny_mce_before_init','wpb_disable_noopener');
function wpb_disable_noopener($mceInit ) {
    $mceInit['allow_unsafe_link_target']=true;
    return $mceInit;

Conclusion:
Though you can change the rel=“noopener” in WordPress settings at any time, it is recommended to keep it for security purposes.