Is there any harm from rel = "noopener" for internal links?

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1

I recognize the purpose and security value for rel = “noopener” in hyperlinks to external domains. However, is there any downside to having it on links or navigation for internal pages? Does it have any affect on visitor activity tracking or logging?

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Hi @TimHoward2000,

Thank you for your inquiry.

After thorough examination of the information presented in “How to Use the Rel Attribute in HTML,” it is clear that implementing rel=“noopener” is indeed a commendable security measure for external links, as you rightly pointed out. However, it appears that this practice may not be necessary for internal links, as further research indicates its purpose is primarily targeted towards external links.

Best regards,

Diana

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I agree that “noopener” should not be used for internal links and this seems to be a bug/issue in HubSpot that the WYSIWYG editor automatically adds that property to all links.

Also, all recent browsers automatically treat target=_blank as noopener now so it’s no longer needed to spell it out anymore.

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Hi @TimHoward2000

There are no security downsides to using rel=“noopener” on links to internal pages. However, it can affect visitor activity tracking or logging. The rel=“noopener” attribute prevents the new page from being able to access the window.opener property. This property is used by some scripts to access the original page, which can be used for malicious purposes.

However, it is also used by some analytics tracking scripts to track the source of a visitor’s traffic. If you use rel=“noopener” on internal links, these scripts will not be able to track the source of the traffic, which can affect your analytics data. If you are not concerned about security, you can safely use rel=“noopener” on internal links. However, if you are using analytics tracking scripts, you may want to avoid using rel=“noopener” on internal links.

Here are some of the possible effects of using rel=“noopener” on internal links: Your analytics data may be inaccurate, You may not be able to track the source of traffic from internal links, Some scripts may not work properly.

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Thanks!