Smart Link Target Manager

A lightweight WordPress plugin that automatically opens external links in a new tab and keeps internal links in the same tab. Zero configuration required.

Features

• Opens external (other-domain) links in a new tab with rel="noopener noreferrer" added automatically for security.
• Forces internal (same-domain) links to open in the same tab, even if a theme, page builder, or manual edit set target="_blank" on them by mistake.
• No settings page, no database options, no external requests — just activate and it works.
• Exclude any specific link by adding the CSS class sltm-skip to it.

Installation

From this repository

1. Download the latest release ZIP from the Releases page, or clone/download this repo.
2. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Upload the ZIP and click Activate.

Manually via FTP/SFTP

1. Copy the smart-link-target-manager folder into wp-content/plugins/ on your server.
2. Go to Plugins in your WordPress dashboard and activate Smart Link Target Manager.

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0+
• PHP 7.0+

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this affect SEO? No. The target attribute does not affect crawling or ranking. rel="noopener noreferrer" only affects browser security behavior, not link authority — it is not the same as nofollow.

Does this slow down my site? No. The script runs after the page has loaded and only updates the target/rel attributes of links already on the page.

Can I exclude a specific link? Yes — add the class sltm-skip to that link's <a> tag.

Changelog

1.0.0

• Initial release.

License

GPLv2 or later — see LICENSE.

Author

Al-Amin Shamim