The Impact Of rel=’noopener noreferrer’ Links On Your SEO Strategy

Ever clicked “view source” and wondered what rel=”noopener noreferrer” is doing in your links? You’re not alone. It looks technical, it appears everywhere, and most people leave it untouched without knowing why.

The truth is, it won’t push you up Google’s rankings. But it quietly affects your visitors’ safety and your traffic reports, so it’s worth understanding before your next outreach campaign.

Key Takeaways

• noopener prevents a newly opened page from accessing the originating page through the JavaScript window.opener property.
• noreferrer stops the browser from sending referrer information to the destination.
• Neither attribute is designed to qualify a link for SEO purposes; use Google’s link qualification attributes when needed.
• noreferrer can hide where a visit came from, so it may show up under a different traffic source, often as direct.
• Paid links need their own tag. Use rel=”sponsored” for those, since noopener and noreferrer don’t cover them.

What Does rel=”noopener noreferrer” Mean?

The rel attribute describes the relationship between your page and the page you link to. Here, two separate instructions are combined:

• noopener blocks access through window.opener, a JavaScript property that lets a new tab interact with the tab that opened it.
• noreferrer tells the browser not to send the referring page’s details to the destination. It also includes noopener.

You’ll usually see them on links that open in a new tab:

Why does noopener exist?

Years ago, a page opened with target=”_blank” could reach back into the original tab. A malicious site could use that to quietly redirect your visitor’s first tab to a fake login page. This is called reverse tabnabbing.

Today, major browsers apply noopener behavior to target=”_blank” links by default. Many sites still keep the attribute in their code because it’s explicit, it covers older browsers, and security audits often look for it.

What does noreferrer actually change?

When someone clicks a link, the browser can tell the destination site where the visitor came from. That’s the Referer header.

Modern browsers commonly use a default referrer policy that sends the full URL for same-origin requests and only the origin for many secure cross-origin requests. Adding noreferrer prevents the Referer header from being sent for that navigation.

Here’s what that means:

• The destination can’t see your site as the source through the header.
• The visit may show up as direct traffic in their analytics.
• The visitor still arrives normally. Only the attribution data is lost.

How Do These Attributes Work?

Consider a link that opens an external resource in a new tab.

<a href=”https://example.com”

target=”_blank”

rel=”noopener noreferrer”>

Visit the external resource

</a>

Here is what each part does:

Attribute	Purpose
href	Specifies the destination URL.
target=”_blank”	Requests that the destination open in a new browsing context, usually a new tab.
rel=”noopener”	Prevents the destination from accessing the originating page through window.opener.
rel=”noreferrer”	Prevents the browser from sending referrer information to the destination.

You don’t need to stamp these attributes on every link. Use them where they make sense.

Most modern browsers already handle noopener for links that open in a new tab, so that part is mostly taken care of. noreferrer is your call, since it controls whether the destination can see where its visitors came from.

Does rel=”noopener noreferrer” Affect SEO?

Nope. Neither of these affects your Google rankings directly. They’re there for browser security and visitor privacy, not to tell Google whether a link should pass on any ranking value.

Google’s documentation on qualifying outbound links explains the link attributes used to identify paid placements, user-generated content, and links that a website does not want to endorse.

noopener and noreferrer serve a different purpose from those link qualification values.

Can these attributes still matter to an SEO strategy?

Yes, but indirectly. It helps you run a safer, cleaner site rather than lifting your rankings.

• Safer for visitors: noopener blocks a new tab from messing with the original one.
• Better for privacy: noreferrer hides which page the click came from.
• Less confusion: you’ll know which attributes are about security and which ones are about SEO.
• Smarter reporting: you’ll understand why some traffic looks “direct” in your analytics.

These are practical benefits, not a promise of higher rankings.

If you want your links to actually help your SEO, put your energy here instead: links search engines can crawl, anchor text that tells readers what to expect, genuinely useful content, and references worth clicking. Google’s SEO Starter Guide is a good place to see how links help both people and search engines find and understand your pages.

How Can It Affect Referral Tracking?

This is one of the most important practical differences between the two attributes.

When someone clicks an external link, the destination website may use referral information to understand where that visitor came from. When someone clicks a link, their browser can tell the next site where they came from. How much it shares depends on the browser and the site’s settings.

With noreferrer, the browser sends nothing. The next site can’t see where the visitor came from.

What does this mean for website owners?

Let’s say your blog links out to a partner’s resource, and a reader clicks it. Here’s what happens on the partner’s end:

• Without noreferrer: their analytics can usually tell the visit came from your site.
• With noreferrer: the browser doesn’t pass that information along, so they can’t see where the visitor came from.
• The result: the visit often shows up as direct traffic, with no sign of your page behind it.

This does not mean the link cannot be clicked or that the destination cannot receive a visit. It means one source of attribution information is withheld.

Quick tip: Before you add noreferrer to links in a campaign, partnership, or anything you report on, ask yourself one thing: does the other side need to see where their visitors came from? If they do, hiding that detail could make your results harder to measure.

When Should You Use These Attributes?

Pick link attributes for what they actually do, not because they sound good for SEO. Start with the behavior you want, then choose the attribute that delivers it.

Situation	Practical approach
An external link opens in a new tab	Consider noopener where appropriate; modern browsers already provide implicit protection in many cases.
You want to withhold referrer information	Use noreferrer when that privacy behavior is intended.
You link to a normal, relevant resource	You generally do not need nofollow, sponsored, or ugc unless the link relationship calls for one.
The link is part of a paid placement or advertisement	Qualify it using Google’s paid-link guidance.
Users add links through comments or forum posts	Consider ugc or nofollow, as appropriate, to identify user-generated links.

Remember that these values can be combined when their purposes overlap. For example, a link can use noopener noreferrer for browser behavior and also include a separate qualification value when needed.

How Is It Different from nofollow and sponsored?

These attributes are often confused because they all appear inside a link’s rel attribute. However, they communicate different things.

Attribute	Main purpose	SEO relevance
noopener	Prevents access through window.opener.	Not a direct ranking signal.
noreferrer	Withholds referrer information.	Not a direct ranking signal; may affect referral attribution.
nofollow	Indicates that the site does not want to imply endorsement or association in the usual way.	Google treats it as a hint when evaluating links.
sponsored	Marks links that are paid for, such as ads and sponsored posts.	Google’s preferred value for qualifying paid links.
ugc	Identifies links in user-generated content, such as comments and forum posts.	Helps Google understand the nature of the link.

Not sure when to use sponsored, ugc, or nofollow? Google’s guide to qualifying outbound links explains each one.

Here’s how it looks in practice. Say you have a paid link that opens in a new tab and shouldn’t share referrer information. You’d write it like this:

<a href=”https://example.com”

target=”_blank”

rel=”sponsored noopener noreferrer”>

Explore the resource

</a>

The values have separate purposes: sponsored identifies the paid relationship, while noopener and noreferrer address browser behavior and referrer information.

Adding noopener noreferrer alone does not replace the appropriate qualification for a paid link.

Best Practices for Managing External Links

A well-managed linking strategy considers the reader, the destination, and the purpose of each link.

• Use descriptive anchor text

Let your anchor text tell readers where they’re headed. “Read our guide to link building” says a lot more than “click here,” which says nothing. If a link can be specific, make it specific.

• Link to relevant resources

External links should support the surrounding content. A useful reference gives readers a way to verify a claim or explore a subject in more depth.

• Keep internal links useful

Internal links help visitors discover related pages on your website. For example, readers exploring link building may also benefit from learning how guest posting works as one approach within a wider SEO strategy.

Use these links when they genuinely help readers understand the topic. Do not add them just to increase the number of internal links.

• Qualify paid links correctly

If a link is paid or sponsored, follow Google’s guidance for identifying that relationship. Do not assume that adding noopener or noreferrer makes a paid link compliant.

• Review your analytics after changes

If you introduce noreferrer across your website, check whether referral attribution changes in your analytics reports. This helps you distinguish changes in reporting from changes in actual visitor activity.

• Avoid treating attributes as ranking shortcuts

There is no reason to add noopener noreferrer to every link in the hope of improving rankings. Choose attributes for their intended function, and put your SEO effort into helpful content, technically sound pages, and relevant links.

Build a Smarter Linking Strategy with Guest Post Discovery

At Guest Post Discovery, we help brands and agencies land placements on relevant sites through our marketplace or a fully managed campaign. You see the options first, and you get clear reporting after.

Before your next campaign, ask what each link is meant to do. Reach the right readers? Share something useful? Support your wider content plan? Answer that first, and the HTML details become much easier to decide.

You can explore our link building services to learn about broader campaign options, or review guest posting services if publishing useful articles on relevant websites fits your plans.

Ready to plan your next campaign? Contact Guest Post Discovery to discuss your goals and explore suitable options.

FAQs

Does rel=”noopener noreferrer” improve Google rankings?

No. These values are for browser security and referrer privacy, not ranking signals.

Do I need it on every external link?

No. It mainly applies to links that open in a new tab. Many browsers already protect target=”_blank” links by default.

Does noreferrer stop Google from following a link?

No. It isn’t the same as nofollow, which is a separate instruction to search engines.

Should paid guest post links use noopener noreferrer?

Not as a replacement for paid-link tags. Google recommends rel=”sponsored” for paid placements and also accepts rel=”nofollow”. You can add noopener and noreferrer separately for browser behavior.