Use External Links Wisely to Keep Visitors on Your Website

Linking to helpful third-party websites is a great way to provide value to your audience—but if you’re not careful, you could be unintentionally sending traffic away from your site. That’s why it’s important to set your external links to open in a new tab or window.

Every click counts when it comes to website engagement and user experience. If a visitor clicks on a link that takes them away from your site—especially without warning—there’s a good chance they won’t come back. But if that external content opens in a new tab, your website stays open in the original browser window, keeping you top of mind and making it easier for them to return.

Most content management systems, including WordPress, make this easy. When you add a hyperlink, just check the option that says something like “Open in a new tab” (in WordPress, it’s usually a simple checkbox). This small step helps reduce bounce rates and improves session duration—two positive signals for both SEO and user satisfaction.

Here are a few quick tips to make your external linking strategy more effective:

• Only link to trusted, high-quality sites
• Keep external links relevant to your content
• Use descriptive anchor text (not just “click here”)
• Don’t overload your page with too many outbound links
• Set links to open in a new tab to protect your site engagement

Adding links that enrich your content is smart—but guiding the user journey carefully is smarter. With just a few extra clicks in your editor, you can boost your content’s credibility and keep your visitors close.