How to Make Affiliate Links Open in a New Tab in WooCommerce: A Simple Guide
Introduction:
Affiliate marketing is a popular way to monetize your WooCommerce website. By promoting products from other businesses and earning a commission on sales, you can generate revenue without managing inventory or shipping. A crucial aspect of Learn more about How To Change The Number Of Products Displayed In Woocommerce optimizing your affiliate links is ensuring they open in a new tab. This keeps your visitors on your site, improves their browsing experience, and ultimately reduces your bounce rate, leading to better SEO. This article will guide you through different methods to make your WooCommerce affiliate links open in a new tab, ensuring a seamless experience for your users.
Why Open Affiliate Links in a New Tab?
Before diving into the how-to, let’s quickly recap why opening affiliate links in a new tab is so important:
- Keeps users on your site: When a user clicks an affiliate link and leaves your site completely, you risk losing them. Opening the link in a new tab ensures they can easily return to your content.
- Improved User Experience: It’s a user-friendly practice. People generally expect external links to open in new tabs.
- Reduced Bounce Rate: A lower bounce rate can positively impact your SEO ranking, signaling to search engines that your site offers valuable content that keeps users engaged.
- Increased Affiliate Conversions: By making the browsing experience more seamless, you might encourage users to explore more affiliate products, potentially leading to more conversions.
- `target=”_blank”` tells the browser to open the link in a new tab or window.
- `rel=”noopener noreferrer”` is crucial for security and performance. `noopener` prevents the new tab from accessing the original page, mitigating potential security risks. `noreferrer` hides referrer information from the target website for added privacy.
- This method is manual and needs to be repeated for each affiliate link.
- It’s prone to errors if you’re not comfortable with HTML.
- Suitable for a small number of affiliate links.
- This is the easiest option for Gutenberg Editor users.
- Automatically adds the `rel=”noopener noreferrer”` attribute for improved security.
- External Links: This plugin allows you to configure all external links, including affiliate links, to open in a new tab with `noopener noreferrer` automatically.
- SEO Redirection Premium: Although it’s designed for redirections, it also includes features to manage external and affiliate links, including automatically opening them in a new tab. (Free version is often enough)
- Plugins can simplify the process, especially when managing numerous affiliate links.
- Choose a reputable plugin with good reviews and active support.
- Avoid installing too many plugins, as they can slow down your website.
Methods for Making Affiliate Links Open in a New Tab
There are a few ways to achieve this, ranging from simple HTML edits to using plugins or custom code snippets. We’ll cover the most common and effective approaches.
1. Manual HTML Editing (Basic Approach)
This method is suitable if you directly add affiliate links within your product descriptions or other text areas using the HTML editor.
Steps:
1. Locate the affiliate link within your product description or page.
2. Switch to the Text/HTML editor in WordPress.
3. Add the `target=”_blank”` attribute to your `` tag.
Example:
Original link:
Modified link:
Explanation:
Considerations:
2. Using the “rel=noopener” checkbox in WordPress (Gutenberg Editor)
If you are using WordPress Gutenberg Editor, the process is more straightforward.
Steps:
1. Insert or edit a link in your WordPress post or page.
2. Click the “Link Settings” icon (looks like a gear) for the link.
3. Check the “Open in new tab” box. This automatically adds the `target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”` attributes to your link.
Considerations:
3. Using a Plugin (Recommended for Ease of Use and Automation)
Several plugins can automatically add the `target=”_blank”` attribute to all affiliate links on your WooCommerce store. This is a more efficient solution, especially if you have a large number of affiliate links.
Recommended Plugins:
Installation and Configuration:
1. Install and activate your chosen plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.
2. Navigate to the plugin’s settings page (usually under “Settings” or “Plugins” in your WordPress dashboard).
3. Configure the plugin to automatically add the `target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”` attributes to all external links or specifically to affiliate links. This usually involves specifying a class or a way to identify affiliate links. Follow the plugin’s documentation for detailed instructions.
Considerations:
4. Adding a Custom Code Snippet (For Advanced Users)
For more control and flexibility, you can use a custom code snippet in your theme’s `functions.php` file or using a code snippets plugin. Be cautious when editing the `functions.php` file directly, as errors can break your site. Always back up your site first.
Example Code (using a code snippets plugin is safer):
add_filter( 'the_content', 'affiliate_links_new_tab' );
function affiliate_links_new_tab( $content ) {
$affiliate_domains = array(
‘example.com’, // Replace with your affiliate domain
‘another-affiliate.net’, // Add more domains as needed
);
foreach ( $affiliate_domains as $domain ) {
$content = str_replace( ‘<a href="https://' . $domain, '<a href="https://' . $domain . '" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"', $content );
$content = str_replace( ‘<a href="http://' . $domain, '<a href="http://' . $domain . '" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"', $content );
}
return $content;
}
Explanation:
1. `add_filter( ‘the_content’, ‘affiliate_links_new_tab’ );`: This line hooks into WordPress’s `the_content` filter, which allows us to modify the content of posts and pages.
2. `function affiliate_links_new_tab( $content ) { … }`: This defines the function that will modify the content.
3. `$affiliate_domains = array( … );`: This array contains a list of your affiliate domains. Remember to replace `’example.com’` and `’another-affiliate.net’` with your actual affiliate domains.
4. `foreach ( $affiliate_domains as $domain ) { … }`: This loop iterates through each affiliate domain in the array.
5. `$content = str_replace( … );`: This line is the core of the code. It uses the `str_replace` function to find all occurrences of links that point to the affiliate domain and add the `target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”` attributes to them. It replaces both `http://` and `https://` versions of the URLs.
6. `return $content;`: This returns the modified content.
How to Use:
1. Install and activate a code snippets plugin (like “Code Snippets” or “WPCode”). This is the recommended approach as it keeps your theme’s `functions.php` file clean and prevents issues if you update your theme.
2. Create a new snippet and paste the code into the snippet editor.
3. Replace `’example.com’` and `’another-affiliate.net’` with your actual affiliate domains.
4. Save and activate the snippet.
Considerations:
- This method provides the most control but requires some coding knowledge.
- Make sure to replace the placeholder affiliate domains with your actual domains.
- Use a code snippets plugin instead of directly editing your theme’s `functions.php` file for safety.
Conclusion
Making your affiliate links open in a new tab in WooCommerce is a small but significant improvement that can enhance the user experience on your site, reduce your bounce rate, and potentially increase your affiliate conversions. Choose the method that best suits your needs and technical skills, whether it’s manually editing HTML, using the Gutenberg editor’s built-in feature, installing a plugin, or implementing a custom code snippet. Remember to always prioritize security and user experience when implementing any changes to your website. By following these guidelines, you can create a seamless and engaging experience for your visitors, contributing to the success of your WooCommerce affiliate marketing efforts.
