Table of Contents
URL: https://www.progressiverobot.com/html-rel-attribute-anchor-tags/
Introduction
The rel attribute inside anchor tags (<a>) describes the relation of a linked resource. rel can take one of 14 values. Let’s examine them all:
Prerequisites
- A general knowledge of HTML5. For a comprehensive review of the HTML5 markup language, explore our series, How To Build a Website in HTML.
Using the rel Attribute Inside Anchor Tags
Here are the 14 values that the rel attribute can accept:
alternate: Points to an alternate version of the document.
author: Points to the author of the document.
bookmark: Points to an URL for bookmarking.
enclosure: Points to a downloadable asset.
external: Points to an URL on a different domain.
help: Points to an help document.
license: Points to legal, license, or copyright information.
next: Points to the next document in a series.
nofollow: Indicates to search engines that the document in not endorsed. This is the most commonly used value and should be used for paid links and ads.
noreferrer: Indicates to the browser not to send an HTTP referrer header.
noopener: Prevent an opener browsing context. It should be used when usingtarget="_blank"on a link. Mathias Bynens discussed the security benefits of this and Jake Archibald discussed the performance benefits.
prev: Points to the previous document in a series.
search: Points to a search function for the document.
tag: Points to a document that's covers a keyword/tag of the current document.
Conclusion
The rel attribute is an important feature of HTML. See our related tutorial on the Rel Attribute for Link Tags
For a more comprehensive review of the HTML5 markup language, explore our series, How To Build a Website in HTML.
