Title: Link control
Author: Felipe Velzani
Published: August 10, 2023
Last modified: May 19, 2026

---

# Link control

## In this article

 * [Adding links](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#adding-links)
 * [Invalid URLs](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#invalid-urls)
 * [Open location & nofollow](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#open-location-nofollow)
 * [Changelog](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

[Go to the list of blocks](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/blocks/)

Use the links control to change how links are supposed to behave when interacting
with the block editor.

First, you need to add a block with a hyperlink — a good example is the [paragraph block](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/paragraph-block/).

Refer to this article for [detailed instructions on adding blocks](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/adding-a-new-block/).

## 󠀁[Adding links](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#adding-links)󠁿

Highlight the text you want to link. Select the link icon in the block toolbar. 
This opens a dialog box where you can search for pages on your own website or type
a URL.

![Link icon selected in the Paragraph block showing URL options](https://wordpress.
org/documentation/files/2023/08/link-control-adding-link-block-toolbar-1024x590.
png)

Alternatively, you can use the Ctrl+K (or ⌘+K) keyboard shortcut to quickly add 
a link rather than clicking the link icon.

The Search option allows you to select pages on your website you want to link to.
Start typing a keyword to view a list of content on your website that match.

**Tip**: If you copied the URL of the website you want to link to, you can highlight
the text and use the Ctrl+V (or ⌘+V) keyboard shortcut to link the text.

## 󠀁[Invalid URLs](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#invalid-urls)󠁿

When adding a link, WordPress may ask you to “Please enter a valid URL” if the link
looks incomplete or malformed. This helps prevent broken links from being saved.

![The link text 'Hello, world!' is shown as the link URL with an error message to
please add a valid URL](https://wordpress.org/documentation/files/2023/08/link-control-
url-validation.png)

Valid URL error message

Use one of these formats for your URLs:

 * Full URL: `https://wordpress.org`
 * Same-page anchor link: `#contact`
 * Relative links: `/about` or `../documents/file-name`, which points to a page 
   or file based on its location in the site.

For external links, include the full address with `https://`.

**Note**: WordPress checks whether the link is formatted like a valid URL. It does
not confirm that the destination page exists or loads successfully.

## 󠀁[Open location & nofollow](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#open-location-nofollow)󠁿

The **Open in new tab** toggle switch allows you to control where the new page should
open. By default, the switch is set to **off**.

 * **off** opens in the same browser tab
 * **on** opens in a new browser tab

This toggle option is also available when you open the link editing panel. Open 
the **Advanced **menu and you will see the same toggle switch as well as the **nofollow**
option.

![Link editing panel with the advanced options displayed](https://wordpress.org/
documentation/files/2024/01/image-8.png)

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

 * Updated 2025-05-19
    - Props to @get_dave, @0mirka00, @sirlouen, @jeryj, @paaljoachim, @wildworks,
      @scruffian
    - Muted embedded video
    - Updated screenshots with WordPress 7.0
    - Minor updates to content the Adding links section.
 * Updated 2025-06-05
    - Updated screenshots with WordPress 6.8

## Changelog

 * Updated 2023-07-05
    - Removed developer jargon and old links to Codex

## Was this article helpful? How could it be improved? 󠀁[Cancel reply](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/link-editing/?output_format=md#respond)󠁿

[Log in to submit feedback](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fdocumentation%2Farticle%2Flink-editing%2F&locale=en_US).
If you need support with something that wasn't covered by this article, please post
your question in the [support forums](https://wordpress.org/support/forums/).

First published

August 10, 2023

Last updated

May 19, 2026