Adding rel tag to all external links

  • I want to add a rel tag for all external links in the content. I have found this script and it is doing exactly what I wanted.

    add_filter('the_content', 'rel_function');

function rel_function($content) {   
    return preg_replace_callback('/<a[^>]+/', 'rel_all_external_links', $content);  
}
 
function rel_all_external_links($Matches) {
    
    $externalLink = $Matches[0];
    $SiteLink = get_bloginfo('url');
 
    if (strpos($link, 'rel') === false)   {
        $externalLink = preg_replace("%(href=\S(?!$SiteLink))%i", 'rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" $1', $externalLink);
    } elseif (preg_match("%href=\S(?!$SiteLink)%i", $externalLink)) {
        $externalLink = preg_replace('/rel=\S(?!nofollow)\S*/i', 'rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"', $externalLink);
    } 

    return $externalLink;
}

    But how to edit it, so that I can manually add a no-follow tag. With this function no matter if I add a no-follow tag the link is overwritten with “noopener noreferrer”.

    Thank you for any help.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • Hey!

    Just a point of clarification, what do you mean exactly by “so that I can manually add a no-follow tag”?

    Might help me understand what you’re trying to do.

    Thread Starter amedic

    (@amedic)

    Hi,

    what I meant is when I edit post and when I add no follow to the link.
    That script is working, but it overwrites nofollow tag with “noopener noreferrer”.

    What I would like is to edit this script, but if I add nofollow to the link from post edit, that it is not overwritten.

    I’m hoping it is more understandable now what I’m trying to achieve.

    Ahh I understand now! Thanks for that.

    So, I tested out your code above, and I see what the issue is. I don’t have an answer going about it a PHP and WP filter way (all the preg_replace and editing the $content is complicated), but I have something using Javascript that I think can be adapted for your needs. It’s what I use on my own sites to append rel attributes to all external links, as well as adding an image (via adding a CSS class) to all external links. Original code is below and then code that should work for your needs is below that. 

    
  /* Add 'text-external' class and rel="external noopener noreferrer" to anchors that are external links 
  * (this.hostname !== location.hostname) but NOT to anchors containing images or subsequent parameters. 
  * Notice multiple parameters for .not() ~mj */

  function addImageToExternalLinks() {
    $("a").filter(function() {
      if ($debug) {
        console.log('Inside addImagetoExternalLinks()')
        console.log('this.hostname: ' + this.hostname)
        console.log('location.hostname: ' + location.hostname)
      }
      return this.hostname && this.hostname !== location.hostname;
    }).not('a:has(img), a:has("span.icon")')
        .attr("rel","external noopener noreferrer")
        .attr("target", "_blank")
        .addClass('text-external');
  }; // end addImageToExternalLinks()

  addImageToExternalLinks();

    And code that should work for you:

    
 function addImageToExternalLinks() {
    $("a").filter(function() {
      if ($debug) {
        console.log('Inside addImagetoExternalLinks()')
        console.log('this.hostname: ' + this.hostname)
        console.log('location.hostname: ' + location.hostname)
      }
      return this.hostname && this.hostname !== location.hostname;
    }).attr("rel","noopener noreferrer")
      .attr("target", "_blank")
  }; // end addImageToExternalLinks()

  addImageToExternalLinks();
    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    Your PHP is flawed, I’m surprised it works at all. The initial if statement should be:
    if (strpos($externalLink, 'rel') === false)

    In a quick test it works as expected, an existing rel="nofollow" remains unmolested.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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