What Is The Noreferrer Attribute?

Date First Published: 30th October 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: SEO

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 6/10

Learn more about what the noreferrer attribute is in this article.

The noreferrer attribute is a HTML attribute added to a link used to prevent referral information from being passed onto the destination site by removing the referral information from the HTTP header. The purpose of this attribute is to prevent external sites from knowing that someone has linked to their site. It is most commonly used for privacy reasons.

Using this attribute will cause the links to appear as 'Direct traffic' in Google Analytics instead of 'Referral traffic' with the domain name that linked to the website. The listings can be found in Google Analytics under Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels and Acquisition > All Traffic > Referrals. Adding this attribute will still pass authority to the linked domain, but not data of the referral website. nofollow attribute is the attribute used to not pass any authority to the linked website. An example of an external link with the noreferrer attribute can be seen below:

Warning:

Never add the noreferrer attribute for internal links within your own website. It can mess up your Google Analytics reports and cause people clicking from one page to another to display as 'Direct traffic' when it isn't.

Does Using The Noreferrer Attribute Have An Effect On SEO?

No, adding the noreferrer attribute does not lower or boost the ranking of pages in search engines. However, it can make the process of link building slower as a way of building links is to link to someone else's site and get their attention. If another website owner saw the domain name that the referral traffic was coming from, they might decide to link back to their website or share it.