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Target _blank – Force links to open in a new tab

by Codexpert, Inc · Uncategorized

Also makes 7 other plugins · 29.8K+ installs across the portfolio →

Free audit wp.org ↗

Force links in posts or pages to open in a new tab

⚠ Stale⚠ Few reviews
How scoring works →
62 Health · C
Maintenance 51/100
Rating quality 69/100
Support 70/100

62 health vs 56 average across 16,375 Uncategorized plugins

200+

Active installs

≈290 estimated

9.9K

Total downloads

since 2014

3.77★

Rating (adjusted)

3.0★ raw · 2 reviews

+65%

81

Downloads · 30d

category median +17%

Directory ranking optimization

How it's scored →

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

76 / 100

Well optimized

Biggest win: Update recency

Update recency 59/100
WP compatibility 100/100
Rating quality 51/100
Listing tuning 100/100

To rank higher: Last updated 454 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 2022-10-05 · 1,426 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+65% vs prior 30d
0Downloads · Aug 26

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges

81

now · peak 529

8130d downloads · Aug 26

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

Target _blank · #12247 you External Links in Ne · #1036 Open Links In New Ta · #7345 Affiliatize Me · #52985

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

3Stars · Aug 26

Update activity

How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.

405per 1k installs · Aug 26

Release cadence

No release in a year
from wp.org release tags

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

0

releases in the last 12 months

1.2y ago

latest release · v3.6

12

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

3.6 · 1.2y ago3.5 · 1.2y ago3.4 · 1.3y ago3.3 · 1.4y ago3.2 · 1.5y ago3.1 · 2.6y ago3.0.1 · 3.2y ago3.0 · 3.2y ago2.0 · 7.4y ago1.2 · 10.2y ago1.1 · 10.9y ago1.0 · 10.9y ago

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 66% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v3.6 66%
v2.0 19%
v3.1 9.6%
v3.0 5.4%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “200+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
200–300 ≈290

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

Install history · since 2020-11-29 · 1,380 observations

200Installs · Aug 26

Estimated value

What this plugin might earn a year, and what it might sell for. Modeled from public signals; we don't see anyone's books.

Est. annual revenue

N/A

Est. acquisition value

N/A

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from.

Ratings · 2 reviews

Read on wp.org ↗
5★
1 4★
0 3★
0 2★
0 1★
1

Details

Version
3.6
Last updated
1.2y ago
Added
2014-07-24 · 12 yrs old
Requires WP
6.0
Tested up to
6.8.8
Requires PHP
—
Changelog ↗Support forum ↗Reviews ↗Advanced stats ↗

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. ★★★★★ WordPressian
    10.6y ago

    There should be an option to exclude internal links to open in new tab. Thanks anyway.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. ★★★★★ Grzegorz.Janoszka
    12.0y ago

    I gave it a try. Most pages of my site are OK, but some are weird, the content is doubled, whole design is off, they just look weird. After deactivating the plugin everything is back to normal.

    Read on wp.org ↗

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.8.1

✓ Low memory footprint
✓ Low page-speed impact
✓ Runs on latest PHP + WP
✓ No PHP errors
✓ No JS errors
✓ Activates cleanly
✓ No resource errors
✓ No external HTTP errors
✓ Optimized database use
✕ Frequently updated

Languages

via translate.wordpress.org

Translated into 1 language, 1 at 90% or more

English (Australia) 92%

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

  1. 2025-06-04 500+ → 200+ down after 110 days in tier
  2. 2025-02-14 400+ → 500+ up after 90 days in tier
  3. 2024-11-16 300+ → 400+ up after 1 days in tier
  4. 2024-11-15 400+ → 300+ down after 17 days in tier
  5. 2024-10-29 300+ → 400+ up after 1 days in tier
  6. 2024-10-28 400+ → 300+ down after 5 days in tier
  7. 2024-10-23 300+ → 400+ up after 2 days in tier
  8. 2024-10-21 400+ → 300+ down after 4 days in tier

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

Compare head to head →

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Target _blank – Force links to open in a new tab into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/mdc-target-blank" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Target _blank – Force links to open in a new tab — Plugin Pulse"></iframe>
Preview card ↗

Target _blank – Force links to open in a new tab: 200+ active installs, 3.0★ (2 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/mdc-target-blank