SEO fix guide
Outbound Links Missing rel Attributes
External links are missing rel="noopener" or rel="sponsored"/"ugc" hints where appropriate. This is a minor best practice for security and SEO hygiene.
Issue ID: ONPAGE-OUTBOUND-REL-001
Severity: advisory
Impact: Low
Effort: S
Use this article when
- You need deeper remediation guidance than the issue card can show.
- You want CMS-specific steps before handing the fix to a developer.
- You want a repeatable re-check path after shipping the change.
What this issue is
External links are missing rel="noopener" or rel="sponsored"/"ugc" hints where appropriate. This is a minor best practice for security and SEO hygiene.
Why it matters
External links are missing rel="noopener" or rel="sponsored"/"ugc" hints where appropriate. This is a minor best practice for security and SEO hygiene. This affects how clearly search engines understand the page and how persuasive it looks in search results.
How we detect it
- FreeSiteAudit flags this issue when the rule for ONPAGE-OUTBOUND-REL-001 fails and the page evidence points to Dom body.
- You can usually confirm this by checking the page source or the relevant page settings inside your CMS.
Evidence examples
Check the affected page source, rendered output, or relevant CMS setting to confirm the missing or incorrect element.
How to fix it
- 1Add rel="noopener noreferrer" to external links that open in new tabs
- 2Use rel="sponsored" for paid/affiliate links
- 3Use rel="ugc" for user-generated content links
How to re-check it
- Inspect external links and confirm appropriate rel attributes
Related tools
This issue is best verified with the full FreeSiteAudit crawl rather than a single-point mini tool.