External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window v2.66
Internal links & external links manager: open in new window or tab, control nofollow, ugc, sponsored & noopener. SEO friendly.
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- Audit coverage Up to date 30 versions audited
- On Plugin Auditor since Sep 4, 2026
- Last audited Sep 4, 2026
Compatibility & requirements
The PHP and WordPress versions this plugin needs, and how current its version support is.
- Requires PHP 7.2+
- Requires WordPress 4.2+
- Tested up to WP 7.1 WP 7.1.3 is current
- Version adoption 43% run the current version
Audit scores by category
125 checksHow this plugin scores across the six areas we audit, from security to accessibility.
- 94 Passed
- 28 Warnings
- 3 Failed
31 of 37 checks passed.
42 of 61 checks passed.
11 of 12 checks passed.
5 of 6 checks passed.
3 of 3 checks passed.
2 of 6 checks passed.
Code footprint
How much code ships in this plugin, and the file types that make it up.
ZIP file size
2.1 MB
3.7 MB unzipped
Total files
207
across all file types
Lines of PHP
6,360
in 61 files Medium
File types
- PHP
- PNG
- EOT
- SVG
- Other
Top issues
The most important findings from the latest audit, ordered by severity.
- 0 Critical
- 7 High
- 34 Medium
- 63 Low
This is a preview of notable findings. Full file-level results, line numbers and code context are in the scan.
View full reportHow scores changed across versions
Across 30 audited versions of External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window, Security improved the most (+11). The largest regression was in Accessibility (-50). The codebase grew 42% in size.
Audited 2.0.4 → 2.66 · 30 versions
How issues changed across versions
Findings by severity for each audited version, so you can see which issues were fixed over time.
Download momentum
How fast this plugin is being installed lately, and whether that pace is rising or slowing.
Last 7 days
2,432
downloads
Today
365
downloads
Week over week
−17%
vs previous week
Month over month
−64%
vs previous month
Download trend: Declining. Abandonment risk: None.
Version intelligence
57% of installs run an older version
≈ 51.2K+ sites on a lower-scoring version.
- Other
- v2.62
- v2.63
- v2.65
- v2.66
Maintenance & history
How actively this plugin is kept up, from its last update to its release history.
Last updated
This month
Jul 24, 2026
Actively maintainedRelease cadence
~ every 49 days
average between releases
Total releases
68
since Feb 2011 · 15 yrs
Contributors & developers
The people credited with building and maintaining this plugin.
Running External Links in Your Site?
External Links and its trademarks are used only to identify the plugin analyzed and remain the property of their owners. This is an independent Plugin Auditor audit, not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the plugin's developer. Metadata may come from WordPress.org; scores, findings, classifications, and visualizations are independently generated by Plugin Auditor. Full disclaimer.