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# Browsers imply noopener for links in new tab
- URL: https://werd.io/browsers-imply-noopener-for-links-in-new-tab/
- Published: 2024-05-08T12:59:52.000Z
- Updated: 2024-05-08T12:59:52.000Z
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: TIL, #Import 2025-06-13 09:20

A small web development thing I’d missed until yesterday:

When you want a link to open a page in a new tab, you’ve long been able to add the attribute `target="_blank"` to the tag. The problem was, that actually gave the opened pages rights to their referrer: it opened a security hole that could potentially have leaked user information or opened the door to phishing.

In response to that, the received wisdom was to also add `rel="noopener"` to the tag — or, more commonly, `rel="noopener noreferrer"`, which strips referrer information from analytics. (Please don’t do this second part. For all kinds of reasons, it’s useful for a publisher to see who’s sending them traffic.) I’ve been adding `noopener` for years.

It turns out that browsers have been *automatically* setting this for links where `target="_blank"` since 2021: for three full years (and, actually, longer for Safari and Firefox). So there’s no need to add it anymore. There’s no *harm* in setting it, but there’s also no need.

[#TIL](https://werd.io/tag/TIL)