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So I see the new WordPress 4.8 is out and while updating some blogs today I noticed that my links that had the “target blank” tag now also have “noopener” automatically added by WordPress. Actually I’m not sure if this has been happening before 4.8 and I just never noticed.
I found a good article that goes into more detail about this:
news.thewindowsclub.com/wordpress-noopener-noreferrer-89508/
Just wondering if anyone here knew about this change and if you have any opinions. The above article hints that this could impact SEO so I’m concerned about that.
I always use target_blank on my blogs because I want surfers to have my site on an open tab in case they want to come back.
Just goes to show that you learn something new about this crazy web biz almost every day. Been doing this for years and never heard of “reverse tabnabbing”.
I think you are more likely to be hurt by using target _blank than any changes wordpress have done. Target _blank has for a long time been frowned upon since it takes away the control from the user of how to open a link. I think you can safely switch to not using that without any loss. It’s most likely based on your own paranoia than actual real loss of users. People know how to use the back button by now. I do understand your concern though, for a long time I felt I didnt dare to stop using _blank.
Well, I learned something because of this post – thanks.
For those who are lazy, the TL;DR version is this… When you open a link in a new tab with target=”something” the page in the new tab can do pretty much anything it wants to the original tab (with a few restrictions that don’t really change the effect). To see this in action go here…
mathiasbynens.github.io/rel-noopener/
rel=”noopener” prevents that problem, and “noreferrer” helps a bit with the 1/3rd of browsers that don’t support noopener (IE/Edge + Opera Mini). The other option is to not open links in new tabs, but then you may lose the surfer.
IMHO, for trusted editorially-chosen links this isn’t really a problem. The problem is with user-generated links. I long ago stopped letting people put URLs in when they submit comments. So it shouldn’t be a big problem for me.
Is WordPress doing this just for comment section links, or links in the post as well?
Either way, I’ve never known Google to penalize you for taking security measures, so I can’t see this affecting SEO.
I actually do not allow comments on my adult blogs. I only noticed this in links included in widgets. The new WP 4.8 enhances the text widget options so that probably explains the change.
And yeah, I realize most people know about the back button but I think that once the surfer leaves my blog and goes to a sponsor where they hopefully sign up for a membership they’ll forget all about my site. That’s why I like to remain in one of their tabs.
