Title: WebberZone Link Warnings
Author: Ajay
Published: 6 Meɣres 2026
Last modified: 13 Ctember 2026
---
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# WebberZone Link Warnings
By [Ajay](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ajay/)
[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/webberzone-link-warnings.1.6.1.zip)
* [Details](https://kab.wordpress.org/plugins/webberzone-link-warnings/#description)
* [Reviews](https://kab.wordpress.org/plugins/webberzone-link-warnings/#reviews)
* [Installation](https://kab.wordpress.org/plugins/webberzone-link-warnings/#installation)
* [Development](https://kab.wordpress.org/plugins/webberzone-link-warnings/#developers)
[Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/webberzone-link-warnings/)
## Description
WebberZone Link Warnings helps you warn users when links open in a new window or
take them to external websites. It adds accessible indicators, confirmation dialogs,
or redirect screens — helping you align with accessibility best practices without
rewriting your content.
WebberZone Link Warnings uses a two-layer approach to process links across your
entire site. For post content, it uses WordPress’s native `WP_HTML_Tag_Processor`
class to efficiently parse and modify links at render time. Server-side filters
also process widget output, navigation menus, comment text, and block-theme template
parts when their General settings are enabled. A lightweight JavaScript scan handles
remaining theme output after the page loads and applies the same rules. Your stored
content remains untouched — the plugin only alters rendered output and does not
interfere with REST API responses or admin editing screens.
### Why warn users about external links?
* `target="_blank"` can disorient screen reader users
* Sudden context changes impact usability
* Accessibility audits often recommend user warnings
* Agencies and site owners often need documented user warnings during accessibility
reviews
### Key features
* **Multiple Warning Methods**: Choose from inline indicators, modal dialogs, or
redirect screens — or combine them
* **Flexible Scope**: Target external links only, or external links plus all `target
="_blank"` links
* **Customizable Indicators**: Configure visual icons, text, or screen reader-only
warnings
* **Modal Dialog**: Show a confirmation dialog before users navigate to external
sites with keyboard navigation and focus management
* **Dismissible Modals**: Let repeat visitors tick « Don’t show again » so the
modal is skipped for a session or for a set number of days, per destination domain
or sitewide
* **Redirect Screen**: Display an intermediate page with a configurable countdown
before external navigation
* **Force External**: Add a class to any link or wrapper element to force it to
be treated as external — useful for tracking URLs or redirects that use internal
paths
* **Automatic Link Attributes**: Add `nofollow`, `sponsored`, `ugc`, `noopener`,`
noreferrer` and `target="_blank"` to external links, affiliate links, or both—
no post edits needed
* **Affiliate Link Marking**: Flag a link or container with a class and give affiliate
links their own attributes
* **Domain Exclusions**: Allow trusted domains to treat them as internal links
* **Sitewide Coverage**: Server-side filters process widget output, navigation
menus, comment text, and block-theme template parts, while the JavaScript scan
covers remaining theme output
* **Post Type Control**: PHP-side processing is scoped to configured post types;
JS scanning covers the full page regardless
* **Built to support accessibility best practices for external link behaviour in
WordPress**: Adds screen reader text, ARIA attributes, and keyboard-friendly
modal confirmations
* **Setup Wizard**: Get started quickly with a guided setup wizard on first activation
* **Template Override**: Override the redirect screen template in your theme for
full design control
* **RTL Support**: Full right-to-left language support for all frontend and admin
styles
* **Multisite Compatible**: Network activate and configure per-site settings
* **Privacy Focused**: Does not collect personal data or send link data to third-
party services
* **Performance Optimized**: Uses WordPress’s native `WP_HTML_Tag_Processor` class
to process links at display time
* **Developer-Friendly**: Filters and actions allow developers to customize behavior,
exclude domains, and output
> This plugin assists with user awareness of external navigation. It does not automatically
> make your website fully accessible or legally compliant.
### How it works
After activation, the setup wizard guides you through the initial configuration.
You can also configure the plugin at **Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings**.
**Warning Methods:**
* Inline indicators only (visual and/or screen reader text)
* Modal dialog (JavaScript-based confirmation)
* Redirect screen (intermediate page with countdown)
* Combined approach (inline + modal)
* Combined approach (inline + redirect)
**Link Scope:**
* External links only
* External links and all `target="_blank"` links
**Visual Indicators:**
* Icon only ()
* Text only (customizable)
* Icon + text
* None (screen reader only)
**Advanced Settings:**
* Custom modal messages and button text
* Modal frequency, dismissal scope and « Don’t show again » label
* Custom redirect page content and countdown duration
* Link attributes for external and affiliate links (`nofollow`, `sponsored`, `ugc`,
open in a new tab, `noopener`, `noreferrer`)
* Affiliate link class and wrapper class (defaults: `wzlw-affiliate`, `wzlw-affiliate-
wrapper`)
* Domain exclusion list
* Post type selection
* Force-external class name (default: `wzlw-force-external`)
### GDPR
WebberZone Link Warnings doesn’t collect personal data or send information to external
services — making it GDPR-friendly by default.
You remain responsible for your site’s overall GDPR compliance.
### Contribute
WebberZone Link Warnings is also available on [Github](https://github.com/WebberZone/webberzone-link-warnings).
So, if you’ve got a cool feature you’d like to implement in the plugin or a bug
you’ve fixed, consider forking the project and sending me a pull request.
Bug reports are [welcomed on GitHub](https://github.com/WebberZone/webberzone-link-warnings/issues).
Please note that GitHub is _not_ a support forum, and issues that aren’t suitably
qualified as bugs will be closed.
### Translations
WebberZone Link Warnings is available for [translation directly on WordPress.org](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/webberzone-link-warnings).
Check out the official [Translator Handbook](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/plugin-theme-authors-guide/)
to contribute.
### Other Plugins by WebberZone
WebberZone Link Warnings is one of the many plugins developed by WebberZone. Check
out our other plugins:
* [Contextual Related Posts](https://wordpress.org/plugins/contextual-related-posts/)–
Display related posts on your WordPress blog and feed
* [Top 10](https://wordpress.org/plugins/top-10/) – Track daily and total visits
to your blog posts and display the popular and trending posts
* [WebberZone Snippetz](https://wordpress.org/plugins/add-to-all/) – The ultimate
snippet manager for WordPress to create and manage custom HTML, CSS or JS code
snippets
* [Knowledge Base](https://wordpress.org/plugins/knowledgebase/) – Create a knowledge
base or FAQ section on your WordPress site
* [Better Search](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search/) – Enhance the default
WordPress search with contextual results sorted by relevance
* [Auto-Close](https://wordpress.org/plugins/autoclose/) – Automatically close
comments, pingbacks and trackbacks and manage revisions
* [Popular Authors](https://wordpress.org/plugins/popular-authors/) – Display popular
authors in your WordPress widget
* [Followed Posts](https://wordpress.org/plugins/where-did-they-go-from-here/) –
Show a list of related posts based on what your users have read
## Screenshots
[⌊External link with icon indicator⌉⌊External link with icon indicator⌉[
External link with icon indicator
[⌊Modal dialog warning before navigation⌉⌊Modal dialog warning before navigation⌉[
Modal dialog warning before navigation
## Installation
#### WordPress install (the easy way)
1. Navigate to Plugins > Add New
2. Search for « WebberZone Link Warnings »
3. Click « Install Now » and then « Activate »
#### Manual install
1. Upload the `webberzone-link-warnings` folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
3. Go to Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings to configure
## FAQ
### Does this plugin affect SEO?
Out of the box, no. WebberZone Link Warnings only modifies how links are displayed
to users and never alters the `href` attribute or link structure.
If you enable the **Link Attributes** settings under Settings > WebberZone Link
Warnings > Advanced, the plugin will add `rel` and `target` attributes to matching
links, which is a deliberate SEO signal that you control. Attributes on links inside
post content are written server-side and are present in the HTML that search engines
download. Attributes on links elsewhere on the page — navigation menus, widgets,
footers and other theme output — are applied by the JavaScript scan after the page
loads, so they are only visible to crawlers that execute JavaScript.
### Is it accessible?
Yes. The plugin adds screen reader text, ARIA attributes, and (for modal mode) keyboard
navigation and focus management.
### Does it work with multilingual sites?
Yes. WebberZone Link Warnings is translation-ready. It uses standard WordPress translation
functions and works with popular multilingual plugins such as WPML and Polylang.
### Does this work with page builders?
Yes. Post content is processed via standard WordPress filters (`the_content` and`
the_excerpt`). In addition, a JavaScript scan runs after the page loads and processes
any links not already handled by PHP — including output generated by page builders,
theme templates, navigation menus, and widgets.
### Can I customize the redirect screen template?
Yes. Copy the template file to `your-theme/webberzone-link-warnings/redirect-screen.
php` to override the default redirect screen with your own design.
### How can I force an internal link to be treated as external?
Add the class `wzlw-force-external` directly to the `` tag:
```
Partner link
```
To force all links inside a container, add `wzlw-force-external-wrapper` to the
wrapper element instead:
```
```
Both class names are configurable under Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings > Advanced.
### How do I add rel= »nofollow » or rel= »sponsored » automatically?
Go to Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings > Advanced and use the **Link Attributes**
section. Tick any combination of `rel="nofollow"`, `rel="sponsored"`, `rel="ugc"`,«
Open in a new tab », `rel="noopener"` and `rel="noreferrer"` under **External Links**,**
Affiliate Links**, or both.
Attributes already on your links are kept. A link that carries `rel="me author"`
becomes `rel="me author nofollow"` rather than losing its original values, and a
link that already has `rel="NoFollow"` is not given a second copy — matching ignores
case.
```
noopener and `noreferrer` are only added to links that actually open in a new tab, either because the link already has `target="_blank"` or because you enabled the new-tab option. Every option is off by default and nothing is added unless you tick it — the plugin has never rewritten `rel` on your links before this version.
```
They are deliberately separate options. Current browsers already imply `noopener`
for `target="_blank"`, so ticking it mainly satisfies security scanners and older
browsers and costs you nothing. `noreferrer` is the one with a behavioural cost:
it also stops the referrer being sent, so leave it unticked for affiliate links
if your merchant relies on the referrer for attribution.
### How do I mark affiliate links?
Add the class `wzlw-affiliate` directly to the `` tag:
```
Buy now
```
To mark every link inside a container, add `wzlw-affiliate-wrapper` to the wrapper
element instead:
```
```
Affiliate links receive both the **External Links** and **Affiliate Links** attribute
sets. Both class names are configurable and accept comma-separated values under
Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings > Advanced.
Note that marking a link as an affiliate link also treats it as external for warning
purposes, exactly like the force-external class. An internal cloaked URL such as`/
go/product/` will show your configured modal, redirect screen or indicator, and
a domain on your exclusion list will show a warning if you also give the link an
affiliate class.
### How can I prevent icons from appearing on specific links?
Add the class `wzlw-no-icon` to any link where you don’t want an icon to appear.
For example:
```
Link without icon
```
This suppresses the visual indicator (icon and/or text). The modal or redirect warning
still applies if your warning method includes one. Screen reader text and ARIA attributes
are still added.
To exclude all links inside a wrapper element (e.g. a navigation block or card),
add the class `wzlw-no-icon-wrapper` to the containing element:
```
```
All links inside that wrapper will have their visual indicators suppressed.
### Can I customize the icon that appears?
Yes. Go to Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings > Display tab and find the « Icon
Style » dropdown. You can choose from several preset icons:
* Arrow (North-East) – default
* Arrow (Right)
* ⬈ Arrow (Up-Right)
* ⧉ External Link Symbol
* 🔗 Link Emoji
* 🌐 Globe Emoji
- Asterisk
* Custom (enter your own)
**Using Custom Icons:** Select « Custom » and enter any Unicode symbol or emoji
in the « Custom Icon » field. Examples: , ⇗, 🔗, 🌐, *, +
### Can visitors stop the modal from showing every time?
Yes. Go to Settings > WebberZone Link Warnings > Display and set « Modal Frequency»
to either « Once per browser session » or « Once every N days ». The modal then
shows a « Don’t show again » checkbox. When a visitor ticks it and clicks Continue,
the dismissal is remembered and the link behaves like a normal link on later clicks.
« Dismissal Scope » controls how far that goes. « Per destination domain » suppresses
the modal for the domain the visitor dismissed and leaves every other external link
alone. « All external links » suppresses it everywhere on the site.
Dismissals live in the visitor’s browser, in `sessionStorage` for the session option
and `localStorage` for the N days option. No cookies are set and nothing is stored
against a user account, so the setting is per browser rather than per person. Clearing
site data resets it.
The default is « Always show the modal », which is the behaviour from earlier versions.
### Does this modify my database content?
No. The plugin only alters rendered output. Your stored content remains unchanged.
### What happens if I deactivate the plugin?
Your links return to their original state. The plugin doesn’t modify your content
in the database — it only changes how links are displayed.
### Where do I report security bugs found in this plugin?
Please report security bugs found in the source code of the WebberZone Link Warnings
plugin through the [Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure Program](https://patchstack.com/database/vdp/a72edb1c-fea7-41b5-a0a1-fbc9308e3a80).
The Patchstack team will assist you with verification, CVE assignment, and notify
the developers of this plugin.
## Reviews
### [Wow. This is an amazing accessbility and UX enhancement](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wow-this-is-an-amazing-accessbility-and-ux-enhancement/)
[Ronald Huereca](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ronalfy/) 13 Meɣres 2026 1 reply
II needed a plugin to highlight external links on my site, have a nice appearance,
and be accessible and not hinder the user. This plugin is perfect for that purpose.
I configured it to show an inline icon and a modal dialogue. The dialogue is great
because it allows a user to stay on the site if desired and prevents accidental
click-throughs. Perhaps in a later version, you can persist a small cookie and add
a checkbox to skip the modal (from the user's perspective). The icons on the links
look great. I changed mine to a dark background and white foreground, using one
of the supplied plugin icons. It looks great on buttons and also regular links.
I'm pleased that you can enable/disable this for post types. And the domain exclusions
are a nice feature. I did add some custom CSS as I thought the icon was a little
too bunched up. body .wzlw-icon { padding: 5px; border-radius: 4px;} Thanks for
the great plugin Ajay.
[ Read all 2 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/webberzone-link-warnings/reviews/)
## Contributors & Developers
“WebberZone Link Warnings” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.
Contributors
* [ Ajay ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ajay/)
* [ WebberZone ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/webberzone/)
[Translate “WebberZone Link Warnings” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/webberzone-link-warnings)
### Interested in development?
[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/webberzone-link-warnings/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/webberzone-link-warnings/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/webberzone-link-warnings/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/webberzone-link-warnings/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).
## Changelog
#### 1.6.1
Release date: 13 September 2026
**Fixed**
* Redirect screens triggered deprecated header and footer template notices on block
themes and other themes without `header.php` or `footer.php`.
#### 1.6.0
Release date: 6 September 2026
Release post: https://webberzone.com/announcements/
link-warnings-v1-6/
**Added**
* Added warnings for configured downloadable file extensions, including files hosted
on the current site.
* Added Downloadable File Extensions, Download Modal Title, and Download Modal
Message settings.
* Added a distinct download indicator icon and ignored query strings and fragments
when matching file extensions.
* Added server-side processing for widgets, navigation menus, comments, and block-
theme template parts, with all four sources enabled by default under General
> External Content.
**Changed**
* Marked excluded domains in the markup so the JavaScript scan honored the same
exclusions as PHP.
* Stopped activation from writing a duplicate copy of the default settings.
**Security**
* Hardened modal and redirect scripts against malformed link markup and mismatched
destination URLs.
**Fixed**
* External links without a scheme, such as `//example.com/page`, were treated as
internal and received no warning.
* Redirect destinations containing `&`, `#`, or `+` failed signature checks and
sent visitors to the home page.
* Force-external links and internal `target="_blank"` links sent visitors to the
home page instead of the redirect warning screen.
* No-icon, force-external, or affiliate wrappers containing an `