Link Warnings: Add a Friendly Warning Before Users Leave Your Site
I’ve often seen clients struggle to link out to third-party sites because “they’re leaving my site.” Or instead, they’ll open the link in a new window, which breaks accessibility and mobile user experience. I’ve struggled with this myself, knowing that SEO favors linking out to authoritative sources, while still wanting to keep everything in-house.
So when friend Ajay Dsouza announced his new Link Warnings pluginOpens in a new window, I had to give it a try.
The plugin works by:
- Adding an unobtrusive icon to any third-party links or links that pop open in new windows.
- Adding an optional modal that displays a friendly warning when users leave the site.
Why I Like It
I like the modal approach because it still gives users a choice and gives the site owner an easy way to inform them that they are leaving the site.
There are also some nice options with the plugin, including:
- Choose the warning method (icon, modal, both).
- Choose external links, and also links that open in new tabs.
- Choose which post types it’s enabled for.
- Exclude elements via the
wzlw-no-iconandwzlw-no-icon-wrapperexclusion classes. - Exclude certain domains from having a warning.
This is especially useful for me when linking out to demos or third-party resources, as it’s easy to visually distinguish between internal and external links.
When to Use It
If you have many third-party links and want an accessible warning mechanism to keep users on your site, Link Warnings will be extremely useful.
With the plugin, this is the user workflow:
- Show an inline icon for all third-party links (with exclusions).
- This highlights when a link is external, so the user can visually see they are leaving the site.
- Optionally, include a link warning for links that open in new tabs.
- An optional modal can be displayed on link click, warning the user that they are leaving the site.
- Finally, the user can dismiss the modal or navigate to the third-party site.
Final thoughts
I really like the concept of Link WarningsOpens in a new window, and its accessibility benefits towards third-party links. If you give this a try, please leave a comment below with your thoughts. I’ve already left my own review of the plugin, and Ajay (the author) has already responded with some improvements.
Please give this a try when you get a chance.
WebberZone Link Warnings
Last Updated: 1 week ago
Add accessible warnings for external links and target="_blank" links in WordPress — using icons, modals, or redirect screens.
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