{"id":16358619,"date":"2023-08-10T01:51:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T01:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/?post_type=helphub_article&#038;p=16358619"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:36:20","slug":"link-editing","status":"publish","type":"helphub_article","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/article\/link-editing\/","title":{"rendered":"Link control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/article\/blocks\/\">Go to the list of blocks<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use the links control to change how links are supposed to behave when interacting with the block editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, you need to add a block with a hyperlink \u2014 a good example is the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/article\/paragraph-block\/\">paragraph block<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#e5f5fa\">Refer to this article for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/article\/adding-a-new-block\/\">detailed instructions on adding blocks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Adding links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-adding-link-block-toolbar-1024x590.png\" alt=\"Link icon selected in the Paragraph block showing URL options\" class=\"wp-image-16367859\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.7356793226617278;object-fit:cover;width:500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-adding-link-block-toolbar-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-adding-link-block-toolbar-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-adding-link-block-toolbar-768x443.png 768w, https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-adding-link-block-toolbar.png 1043w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alternatively, you can use the&nbsp;Ctrl+K (or \u2318+K) keyboard shortcut to quickly add a link rather than clicking the link icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"540\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 960 \/ 540;\" width=\"960\" controls muted src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-6.7.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tip<\/strong>: If you copied the URL of the website you want to link to, you can highlight the text and use the Ctrl+V (or \u2318+V) keyboard shortcut to link the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Invalid URLs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When adding a link, WordPress may ask you to \u201cPlease enter a valid URL\u201d if the link looks incomplete or malformed. This helps prevent broken links from being saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"912\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-url-validation.png\" alt=\"The link text &apos;Hello, world!&apos; is shown as the link URL with an error message to please add a valid URL\" class=\"wp-image-16367860\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.62859739472887;object-fit:cover;width:500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-url-validation.png 912w, https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-url-validation-300x184.png 300w, https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2023\/08\/link-control-url-validation-768x472.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 912px) 100vw, 912px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Valid URL error message<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use one of these formats for your URLs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Full URL:\u00a0<code>https:\/\/wordpress.org<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Same-page anchor link:\u00a0<code>#contact<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Relative links:\u00a0<code>\/about<\/code>\u00a0or\u00a0<code>..\/documents\/file-name<\/code>, which points to a page or file based on its location in the site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For external links, include the full address with\u00a0<code>https:\/\/<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Note<\/strong>: WordPress checks whether the link is formatted like a valid URL. It does not confirm that the destination page exists or loads successfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Open location &amp; nofollow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>Open in new tab<\/strong> toggle switch allows you to control where the new page should open. By default, the switch is set to <strong>off<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>off<\/strong>&nbsp;opens in the same browser tab<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>on<\/strong>&nbsp;opens in a new browser tab<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This toggle option is also available when you open the link editing panel. Open the <strong>Advanced <\/strong>menu and you will see the same toggle switch as well as the <strong>nofollow<\/strong> option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"861\" height=\"824\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2024\/01\/image-8.png\" alt=\"Link editing panel with the advanced options displayed\" class=\"wp-image-16359524\" style=\"width:519px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2024\/01\/image-8.png 861w, https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2024\/01\/image-8-300x287.png 300w, https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/files\/2024\/01\/image-8-768x735.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 861px) 100vw, 861px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"changelog\" class=\"wp-block-group changelog has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"background-color:#dce5ec;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Changelog<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Updated 2025-05-19\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Props to @get_dave, @0mirka00, @sirlouen, @jeryj, @paaljoachim, @wildworks, @scruffian<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Muted embedded video<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Updated screenshots with WordPress 7.0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Minor updates to content the Adding links section.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Updated 2025-06-05\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Updated screenshots with WordPress 6.8<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"changelog\" class=\"wp-block-group changelog has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"background-color:#dce5ec;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Changelog<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Updated 2023-07-05 \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Removed developer jargon and old links to Codex<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This page explains how you can use the links control in WordPress to change how links behave when interacting with the block editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16234840,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false},"category":[83,80],"class_list":["post-16358619","helphub_article","type-helphub_article","status-publish","hentry","category-block-editor","category-customization"],"revision_note":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/16358619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/helphub_article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16358619"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/16358619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16368826,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/16358619\/revisions\/16368826"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wporg\/v1\/users\/felipevelzani"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16358619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=16358619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}