External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window

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

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

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

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

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

At the current install trend, crossing 100K+ in roughly 1764 days.

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 declining trend compresses what a buyer would pay.

1. ★★★★★ Ankabird

   10mo ago

   Almost nothing at free version.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ bondimedical3

   1.1y ago

   This plugin is exactly what I needed to manage external link behavior on my site. The ability to customize nofollow and dofollow rules by domain is a huge win for SEO, especially for trusted citations while preventing link equity leakage. I really appreciate how intuitive the interface is — you can set default behaviors, override for specific links, and apply rules consistently across the site. Also love that it handles noopener and noreferrer attributes out of the box. Support has been rock solid and the plugin is clearly well-maintained. If you care about SEO hygiene and link control, this is a must-have. 5 stars!

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ Mayhymn

   1.3y ago

   Messed my whole site up.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ Vladimir Unguru

   2.0y ago

   It works well for my blog. Just an idea: I needed to hide the icon in the CTA buttons and I solved this easily by adding code in the CSS of my theme. It would be nice though if there was a simple exception option based on selector, just for the icon.

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ drunkfox

   2.1y ago

   I wrote 3 emails to the support, but the support doesn’t answer.

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ dobem

   2.2y ago

   The plugin only works for new posts added after installing the plugin, or if you edit your posts one by one. Note that the developers do not respond to any comments with 1 star or 5 stars. For them, the opinion of those who use it is worthless. Do you understand that? If you uninstall noreferrer it becomes active again. In other words, the guy makes the plugin and if you decide to uninstall everything, everything goes back to the way it was before. It’s a basic thing, there should be a plugin that removes all rel=”noreferrer” from the database, because if you don’t want noreferrer you will never want it to stay in the database. This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by dobem. This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by dobem.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ EuBo

   2.3y ago

   has been using it for many years and still strong and support is professional.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ audioscavenger

   2.4y ago

   Broken Link Checker is a better free option. It does what this plugin does and also scans your links for free.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 2.65 2026-05-21 minor fixes 2.65
2. — Version 2.64 2026-03-21 PHP 8.5 compatibility bug fixes 2.64
3. — Version 2.63 2025-07-12 _load_textdomain fix 2.63
4. — Version 2.62 2024-10-13 minor security fixes and code tweaks 2.62
5. — Version 2.61 2024-07-08 minor security fixes 2.61
6. — Version 2.60 2024-02-20 fixed WordPress Network activation bug 2.60

3 disclosed vulnerabilities on record for this plugin, all fixed in the current version. Sites on older versions stay exposed until they update.

1. Medium · 4.3 External Links <= 2.57 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via action_admin_action_wpel_dismiss_notice ↗
   2023-03-08 Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Affects <= 2.57 Patched in 2.58
2. Medium · 5.5 External Links <= 2.55 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2022-11-20 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 2.55 Patched in 2.56
3. Medium · 6.4 WP External Links < 1.81 - Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2016-03-23 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects < 1.81 Patched in 1.81

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1

Translated into 24 languages, 9 at 90% or more

Growth timeline

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

1. 2026-05-10 80K+ → 90K+ up after 12 days in tier
2. 2026-04-28 90K+ → 80K+ down after 260 days in tier
3. 2025-08-11 80K+ → 90K+ up after 1 days in tier
4. 2025-08-10 90K+ → 80K+ down after 2 days in tier
5. 2025-08-08 80K+ → 90K+ up after 4 days in tier
6. 2025-08-04 90K+ → 80K+ down after 6 days in tier
7. 2025-07-29 80K+ → 90K+ up after 3 days in tier
8. 2025-07-26 90K+ → 80K+ down after 19 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).

• External Links Manager – Open new window in a new tab + nofollow, noreferrer 50+ installs · 4.0★ · 5 shared tags B
• External Links in New Window / New Tab 30K+ installs · 4.4★ · 3 shared tags A
• Open Links In New Tab 800+ installs · 4.0★ · 3 shared tags D
• Leaving Notice Popup For External Links – nofollow, noopener & New Tab 300+ installs · 4.2★ · 3 shared tags A
• External Links New Tab 10+ installs · 3.6★ · 3 shared tags C
• All Nofollow — installs · 3.6★ · 3 shared tags C

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window: 90K+ active installs, 4.3★ (247 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-25. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/wp-external-links