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External Links Manager

External Links Manager – Open new window in a new tab + nofollow, noreferrer

by NewCodeByte · WordPress.org page

v1.3.4 Tested up to WP 7.0.4 PHP 7.0+

External Links Manager has 50+ active installs on WordPress.org and 1,410 downloads all time. We have tracked it since September 4, 2026; download trends appear after 30 days of data. The last update was on May 25, 2026, tested up to WordPress 7.0.4.

External Links Manager at a glance

Active installs
50+
Total downloads
1,410
Downloads, last 30 days
–
available after 30 days of tracking
30-day growth
–
tracking since September 4, 2026

Is External Links Manager well maintained?

Support threads resolved
No open threads
nothing waiting on the WordPress.org forum
WordPress compatibility
Behind
tested up to WordPress 7.0.4, not yet with the current 7.1

Features

The feature list from the plugin's own readme on WordPress.org, trimmed to the essentials.

  • Automatic New Tab for External Links: Improve site engagement by default
  • Optional Link Icon: Visually indicate links that open in a new tab with a customizable Dashicon or symbol (e.g., 🔗, ↗)
  • Custom Styling via CSS Class: Optionally add a specific CSS class to modified links, giving you a clean hook to style them exactly as you want from your theme
  • Link Tooltip: Option to display a customizable text tooltip on mouse hover for all modified links
  • XHTML Strict Compliant: Uses JavaScript for window.open(), preserving markup validity
  • Security First: Automatically adds rel="noopener" to all modified links
  • SEO Enhancements
  • Granular Control with Lists
  • User-Friendly Settings: Intuitive interface to manage all options, including dynamic lists
  • Lightweight & Efficient: Designed to be performant and not slow down your site. Dynamically processes new links added via AJAX
  • Internationalization Ready: Easily translatable into any language

External Links Manager reviews and ratings

1 reviews on WordPress.org, with the most recent ones as their authors posted them.

All reviews
5.0 out of 5

1 reviews

5★
1
4★
0
3★
0
2★
0
1★
0

  • Works great

    Very nice plugin, works excellent, super handy, thank you!

    Roberto

Details

Manage external links: new tabs, add rel attribute nofollow, noopener, noreferrer, sponsored, show icon on/off. SEO, secure, XHTML Strict compliant.

The full description, screenshots and every review live on the WordPress.org page.

Tags

  • external links
  • new tab
  • new window
  • nofollow
  • noopener

More from NewCodeByte

Version
1.3.4
Last updated
May 25, 2026
First published
May 26, 2025
Requires WordPress
4.5
Tested up to
7.0.4
Requires PHP
7.0
Pricing
Free on WordPress.org

External Links Manager FAQ

What does External Links Manager do?

According to its WordPress.org readme, External Links Manager offers Automatic New Tab for External Links: Improve site engagement by default, Optional Link Icon: Visually indicate links that open in a new tab with a customizable Dashicon or symbol (e.g., 🔗, ↗), Custom Styling via CSS Class: Optionally add a specific CSS class to modified links, giving you a clean hook to style them exactly as you want from your theme, Link Tooltip: Option to display a customizable text tooltip on mouse hover for all modified links and XHTML Strict Compliant: Uses JavaScript for window.open(), preserving markup validity.

How many active installs does External Links Manager have?

WordPress.org reports 50+ active installs for External Links Manager as of September 7, 2026.

Is External Links Manager still maintained?

Yes. The last release was on May 25, 2026 and it is tested up to WordPress 7.0.4.

Is External Links Manager free?

External Links Manager is free to install from WordPress.org. Many plugins also sell a paid version or add-ons.