External link attributes and equityWhat it checks and how to fix it

What it checks

Looks at every link on the page that points to another domain and reports how many pass link equity versus carry rel="nofollow", "sponsored" or "ugc". It warns when any external link opens in a new tab (target="_blank") without rel="noopener" or rel="noreferrer", and passes otherwise.

Why it matters

A page opened with target="_blank" and no rel="noopener" can reach back through window.opener and silently navigate your tab to a phishing page (reverse tabnabbing). Modern browsers imply noopener in many cases, but older browsers and embedded webviews do not. Knowing which outbound links pass equity also tells you whether paid or user-generated links are marked the way search engines expect.

How to fix it

Add rel="noopener noreferrer" to every external link that opens in a new tab, and mark paid or user-submitted links with sponsored or ugc.

<a href="https://example.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Partner site</a>
<a href="https://advertiser.example" rel="sponsored noopener">Sponsored link</a>
<a href="https://commenter.example" rel="ugc nofollow">Commenter's site</a>

In Rails, set it once in the helper call:

<%= link_to "Partner site", "https://example.org", target: "_blank", rel: "noopener noreferrer" %>

If your CMS writes the links, turn on its "add noopener to new-tab links" option, or post-process the HTML so every target="_blank" link gets the attribute.