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The rel
attribute defines the relationship between a linked resource and the current document. Valid on <link>
, <a>
, <area>
, and <form>
, the supported values depend on the element on which the attribute is found.
The type of relationships is given by the value of the rel
attribute, which, if present, must have a value that is an unordered set of unique space-separated keywords, which are listed in the following table. Every keyword within a space-separated value should be unique within that value.
rel value
|
Description | <link>
|
<a> and <area>
|
<form>
|
---|---|---|---|---|
alternate
|
Alternate representations of the current document. | Link | Link | Not allowed |
author
|
Author of the current document or article. | Link | Link | Not allowed |
bookmark
|
Permalink for the nearest ancestor section. | Not allowed | Link | Not allowed |
canonical
|
Preferred URL for the current document. | Link | Not allowed | Not allowed |
dns-prefetch
|
Tells the browser to preemptively perform DNS resolution for the target resource's origin | External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
external
|
The referenced document is not part of the same site as the current document. | Not allowed | Annotation | Annotation |
help
|
Link to context-sensitive help. | Link | Link | Link |
icon
|
An icon representing the current document. | External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
license
|
Indicates that the main content of the current document is covered by the copyright license described by the referenced document. | Link | Link | Link |
manifest
|
Web app manifest | Link | Not allowed | Not allowed |
modulepreload
|
Tells to browser to preemptively fetch the script and store it in the document's module map for later evaluation. Optionally, the module's dependencies can be fetched as well. | External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
next
|
Indicates that the current document is a part of a series and that the next document in the series is the referenced document. | Link | Link | Link |
nofollow
|
Indicates that the current document's original author or publisher does not endorse the referenced document. | Not allowed | Annotation | Annotation |
noopener
|
Creates a top-level browsing context that is not an auxiliary browsing context if the hyperlink would create either of those, to begin with (i.e., has an appropriate target attribute value).
|
Not allowed | Annotation | Annotation |
noreferrer
|
No Referer header will be included. Additionally, has the same effect as noopener .
|
Not allowed | Annotation | Annotation |
opener
|
Creates an auxiliary browsing context if the hyperlink would otherwise create a top-level browsing context that is not an auxiliary browsing context (i.e., has "_blank " as target attribute value).
|
Not allowed | Annotation | Annotation |
pingback
|
Gives the address of the pingback server that handles pingbacks to the current document. | External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
preconnect
|
Specifies that the user agent should preemptively connect to the target resource's origin. | External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
prefetch
|
Specifies that the user agent should preemptively fetch and cache the target resource as it is likely to be required for a followup navigation. | External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
preload
|
Specifies that the user agent must preemptively fetch and cache the target resource for current navigation according to the potential destination given by the as attribute (and the priority associated with the corresponding destination).
|
External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
prerender
|
Specifies that the user agent should preemptively fetch the target resource and process it in a way that helps deliver a faster response in the future. | External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
prev
|
Indicates that the current document is a part of a series and that the previous document in the series is the referenced document. | Link | Link | Link |
search
|
Gives a link to a resource that can be used to search through the current document and its related pages. | Link | Link | Link |
stylesheet
|
Imports a style sheet. | External Resource | Not allowed | Not allowed |
tag
|
Gives a tag (identified by the given address) that applies to the current document. | Not allowed | Link | Not allowed |
The rel
attribute is relevant to the <link>
, <a>
, <area>
, and <form>
elements, but some values only relevant to a subset of those elements. Like all HTML keyword attribute values, these values are case-insenstive.
The rel
attribute has no default value. If the attribute is omitted or if none of the values in the attribute are supported, then the document has no particular relationship with the destination resource other than there being a hyperlink between the two. In this case, on <link>
and <form>
, if the rel
attribute is absent, has no keywords, or if not one or more of the space-separated keywords above, then the element does not create any links. <a>
and <area>
will still created links, but without a defined relationship.
Like all HTML keyword attribute values, these values are case-insensitive.
Values
If there are multiple <link rel="icon">
s, the browser uses their media
attribute, type
and sizes
attributes to select the most appropriate icon. If several icons are equally appropriate, the last one is used. If the most appropriate icon is later found to be inappropriate, for example, because it uses an unsupported format, the browser proceeds to the next-most appropriate, and so on.
Note: Apple's iOS does not use this link type, nor the sizes
attribute, like others mobile browsers do, to select a webpage icon for Web Clip or a start-up placeholder. Instead, it uses the non-standard apple-touch-icon
and apple-touch-startup-image
respectively.
The shortcut
link type is often seen before icon
, but this link type is non-conforming, ignored and web authors must not use it anymore.
alternate
- Indicates an alternate representation of the current document. Valid for link, a, and area, the meaning depends on the values of the other attributes.
With the
stylesheet
keyword on a<link>
, it creates an alternate stylesheet.<!-- a persistent style sheet --> <link rel="stylesheet" href="default.css"> <!-- alternate style sheets --> <link rel="alternate stylesheet" href="highcontrast.css" title="High contrast">
- With an hreflang attribute that differs from the document language, it indicates a translation.
With the type attribute, it indicates that the referenced document is the same content in a different format. For example, with
type="application/rss+xml"
it creates a hyperlink referencing a syndication feed.<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" href="posts.xml" title="Blog">
Both the hreflang and type attributes specify links to versions of the document in an alternative format and language, intended for other media:
<link rel=alternate href="/fr/html/print" hreflang=fr type=text/html media=print title="French HTML (for printing)"> <link rel=alternate href="/fr/pdf" hreflang=fr type=application/pdf title="French PDF">
Indicates the author of the current document or article. Relevant for
<link>
,<a>
, and<area>
elements, theauthor
keyword creates a hyperlink. With<a>
and<area>
, it indicates the linked document (ormailto:
) provides information about the author of the nearest<article>
ancestor if there is one, otherwise the entire document. For<link>
, it represents the author of the entire document.Note: The obsolete
rev="made"
is treated asrel="alternate"
bookmark
- Relevant as the
rel
attribute value for the<a>
and<area>
elements, the bookmark provides a permalink for ancestor section, which is the nearest ancestor<article>
or<section>
, if there is at least one, otherwise, the nearest heading sibling or ancestor descendant, to the next.. canonical
- Valid for
<link>
, it defines the preferred URL for the current document, which is useful for search engines. dns-prefetch
- Relevant for the
<link>
element both in the<body>
and<head>
, it tells the browser to preemptively perform DNS resolution for the target resource's origin. Useful for resources the user will likely need, it helps reduce latency and thereby improves performance when the user does access the resources as the browser preemptively performed DNS resolution for the origin of the specified resource. See dns-prefetch described in resource hints. external
- Relevant to
<form>
,<a>
, and<area>
, it indicates the referenced document is not part of the current site. This can be used with attribute selectors to style external links in a way that indicates to the user that they will be leaving the current site. help
- Relevant to
<form>
,<link>
,<a>
, and<area>
, thehelp
keyword indicates that the linked to content provides context-sensitive help, providing information for the parent of the element defining the hyperlink, and its children. When used within<link>
, the help is for the whole document. When included with<a>
and<area>
and supported, the defaultcursor
will behelp
instead ofpointer
. icon
Valid with
<link>
, the linked resource represents the icon, a resource for representing the page in the user interface, for the current document.The most common use for the
icon
value is the favicon:<link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico">
If there are multiple
<link rel="icon">
s, the browser uses theirmedia
attribute,type
, andsizes
attributes to select the most appropriate icon. If several icons are equally appropriate, the last one is used. If the most appropriate icon is later found to be inappropriate, for example because it uses an unsupported format, the browser proceeds to the next-most appropriate, and so on.Prior to Firefox 83 the crossorigin attribute was not supported for
rel="icon"
there is also an open issue for Chrome.Note: Apple's iOS does not use this link type, nor the
sizes
attribute, like others mobile browsers do, to select a webpage icon for Web Clip or a start-up placeholder. Instead it uses the non-standardapple-touch-icon
andapple-touch-startup-image
respectively.The
shortcut
link type is often seen beforeicon
, but this link type is non-conforming, ignored and web authors must not use it anymore.license
Valid on the
<a>
,<area>
,<form>
,<link>
elements, thelicense
value indicates that the hyperlink leads to a document describing the licensing information; that the main content of the current document is covered by the copyright license described by the referenced document. If not inside the<head>
element, the standard doesn't distinguish between a hyperlink applying to a specific part of the document or to the document as a whole. Only the data on the page can indicate this.<link rel="license" href="#license">
Note: Although recognized, the synonym
copyright
is incorrect and must be avoided.manifest
- Web app manifest. Requires the use of the CORS protocol for cross-origin fetching.
modulepreload
- Useful for improved performance, and relevant to the
<link>
anywhere in the document, settingrel="modulepreload"
tells the browser to preemptively fetch the script (and dependencies) and store it in the document's module map for later evaluation.modulepreload
links can ensure network fetching is done with the module ready (but not evaluated) in the module map before it is necessarily needed. See also link types:modulepreload
. next
- Relevant to
<form>
,<link>
,<a>
, and<area>
, thenext
values indicates that the current document is a part of a series, and that the next document in the series is the referenced document. When included in a<link>
, browsers may assume that document will be fetched next, and treat it as a resource hint. nofollow
- Relevant to
<form>
,<a>
, and<area>
, thenofollow
keyword tells search engine spiders to ignore the link relationship. The nofollow relationship may indicate the current document's owner does not endorse the referenced document. It is often included by Search Engine Optimizers pretending their link farms are not spam pages. noopener
- Relevant to
<form>
,<a>
, and<area>
, creates a top-level browsing context that is not an auxiliary browsing context if the hyperlink would create either of those to begin with (i.e., has an appropriatetarget
attribute value). In other words, it makes the link behave as ifwindow.opener
were null andtarget="_parent"
were set. This is the opposite of opener. noreferrer
- Relevant to
<form>
,<a>
, and<area>
, including this value makes the referrer unknown (noReferer
header will be included), and opens the creates a top-level browsing context, as ifnoopener
were also set. opener
- Creates an auxiliary browsing context if the hyperlink would otherwise create a top-level browsing context that is not anauxiliary browsing context (i.e., has "
_blank
" astarget
attribute value). Effectively, the opposite of noopener. pingback
- Gives the address of the pingback server that handles pingbacks to the current document.
preconnect
- Specifies that the user agent should preemptively connect to the target resource's origin.
prefetch
- Specifies that the user agent should preemptively fetch and cache the target resource as it is likely to be required for a followup navigation.
preload
- Specifies that the user agent must preemptively fetch and cache the target resource for current navigation according to the potential destination given by the
as
attribute (and the priority associated with the corresponding destination). prerender
- Specifies that the user agent should preemptively fetch the target resource and process it in a way that helps deliver a faster response in the future.
prev
Similar to the next keyword, relevant to
<form>
,<link>
,<a>
, and<area>
, theprev
values indicates that the current document is a part of a series, and that the link references a previous document in the series is the referenced document.Note: The synonym
previous
is incorrect and should not be used.search
Relevant to
<form>
,<link>
,<a>
, and<area>
elements, thesearch
keywords indicates that the hyperlink references a document whose interface is specially designed for searching in the current document, site, and related resources, providing a link to a resource that can be used to search.If the
type
attribute is set toapplication/opensearchdescription+xml
the resource is an OpenSearch plugin that can be easily added to the interface of some browsers like Firefox or Internet Explorer.stylesheet
Valid for the
<link>
element, it imports an external resource to be used as a stylesheet. Thetype
attribute is not needed as it's atext/css
stylesheet, as that is the default value. If it's not a stylesheet of typetext/css
it is best to declare the type.While this attribute defines the link as being a stylesheet, the interaction with other attributes and other key terms within the rel value impact whether the stylesheet is downloaded and/or used.
When used with the alternate keyword, it defines an alternative style sheet. In this case, include a non-empty
title
.The external stylesheet will not be used or even downloaded if the media does not match the value of the
media
attribute.Requires the use of the CORS protocol for cross-origin fetching.
tag
- Valid for the
<a>
, and<area>
elements, it gives a tag (identified by the given address) that applies to the current document. The tag value denotes that the link refers to a document describing a tag applying to the document on which it is located. This link type is not meant for tags within a tag cloud, as those tags apply to a group of pages, whereas thetag
value of therel
attribute is for a single document.
Non-standard values
- apple-touch-icon-precomposed
<!-- third-generation iPad with high-resolution Retina display: --> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="/static/img/favicon144.e7e21ca263ca.png"> <!-- iPhone with high-resolution Retina display: --> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="/static/img/favicon114.d526f38b09c5.png"> <!-- first- and second-generation iPad: --> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="/static/img/favicon72.cc65d1d762a0.png"> <!-- non-Retina iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android 2.1+ devices: --> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/static/img/favicon57.de33179910ae.png"> <!-- basic favicon --> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/static/img/favicon32.7f3da72dcea1.png">
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
No compatibility data found. Please contribute data for "html.elements.attributes.rel" (depth: 1) to the MDN compatibility data repository.
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'rel attribute' in that specification. | Living Standard | Added opener . Made noopener default for target="_blank" .
|
HTML5The definition of 'rel attribute' in that specification. | Recommendation | Added tag , search , prefetch , noreferrer , nofollow , icon , and author .
Renamed |
PreloadThe definition of 'preload' in that specification. | Candidate Recommendation | Added preload .
|
Resource HintsThe definition of 'preconnect' in that specification. | Working Draft | Added dns-prefetch , preconnect , and prerender values.
|
HTML 4.01 SpecificationThe definition of 'link types' in that specification. | Recommendation | Added alternate , stylesheet , start , chapter , section , subsection , appendix , and bookmark .
Renamed |
UnknownThe definition of '<link>' in that specification. | Unknown (Obsolete) | Added top , contents , index , glossary , copyright , next , previous , help , and search .
|
RFC 1866: HTML 2.0 | Unknown(Obsolete) | Initial definition. |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Update compatibility data on GitHub
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rel
|
Chrome
Full support 1 |
Edge
Full support 12 |
Firefox
Full support 1 |
IE
Full support Yes |
Opera
Full support Yes |
Safari
Full support Yes |
WebView Android
Full support Yes |
Chrome Android
Full support Yes |
Firefox Android
Full support 4 |
Opera Android
Full support Yes |
Safari iOS
Full support Yes |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support Yes |
Alternative stylesheets. | Chrome
No support 1 — 48 |
Edge
? |
Firefox
Full support 3 |
IE
Full support 8 |
Opera
Full support Yes |
Safari
? |
WebView Android
? |
Chrome Android
? |
Firefox Android
Full support 4 |
Opera Android
? |
Safari iOS
? |
Samsung Internet Android
? |
Chrome
Full support 46 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 3 |
IE
? |
Opera
Full support 33 |
Safari
? |
WebView Android
Full support 46 |
Chrome Android
Full support Yes |
Firefox Android
Full support 4 |
Opera Android
? |
Safari iOS
? |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support Yes | |
icon
|
Chrome Full support 4 Full support 4 Notes' If both ICO and PNG are available, will use ICO over PNG if ICO has better matching sizes set. (Per caniuse.com.) |
Edge Full support 12 Full support 12 Notes' In version 79 and later (Blink-based Edge), if both ICO and PNG are available, will use ICO over PNG if ICO has better matching sizes set. (Per caniuse.com.) |
Firefox
Full support 2 |
IE
Full support 11 |
Opera Full support 9 Full support 9 Notes' In version 15 and later (Blink-based Opera), if both ICO and PNG are available, will use ICO over PNG if ICO has better matching sizes set. (Per caniuse.com.) |
Safari Full support 3.1 Full support 3.1 Notes' If both ICO and PNG are available, will ALWAYS use ICO file, regardless of sizes set. (Per caniuse.com.) |
WebView Android
Full support 38 |
Chrome Android
Full support 18 |
Firefox Android
Full support 4 |
Opera Android
No support No |
Safari iOS No support No No support No Notes' Does not use favicons at all (but may have alternative for bookmarks, etc.). (Per caniuse.com.) |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 4.0 |
Chrome
No support No |
Edge
No support No |
Firefox
? |
IE
? |
Opera
No support No |
Safari
? |
WebView Android
Full support 39 |
Chrome Android
Full support 39 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
? |
Safari iOS
? |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 4.0 | |
Chrome
Full support 66 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
? |
IE
? |
Opera
Full support 53 |
Safari
? |
WebView Android
Full support 66 |
Chrome Android
Full support 66 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 47 |
Safari iOS
? |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 9.0 | |
Chrome
Full support 46 |
Edge
Full support 79 |
Firefox Full support 39 Full support 39 Notes' Before Firefox 41, it doesn't obey the |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 33 |
Safari
Full support 11.1 |
WebView Android
Full support 46 |
Chrome Android
Full support 46 |
Firefox Android Full support 39 Full support 39 Notes' Before Firefox 41, it doesn't obey the |
Opera Android
Full support 33 |
Safari iOS
Full support 11.3 |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 4.0 | |
Chrome
Full support 8 |
Edge
Full support 12 |
Firefox
Full support 2 |
IE
Full support 11 |
Opera
Full support 15 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 4.4 |
Chrome Android
Full support 18 |
Firefox Android
Full support 4 |
Opera Android
Full support 14 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 1.5 | |
Chrome
Full support 50 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox No support 56 — 57 No support 56 — 57 Notes' Disabled due to various web compatibility issues (e.g. bug 1405761). |
IE
? |
Opera
Full support 37 |
Safari
? |
WebView Android
Full support 50 |
Chrome Android
Full support 50 |
Firefox Android No support 56 — 57 No support 56 — 57 Notes' Disabled due to various web compatibility issues (e.g. bug 1405761). |
Opera Android
? |
Safari iOS
? |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 5.0 | |
Chrome
Full support 13 |
Edge
Full support 79 |
Firefox
No support No |
IE
Full support 11 |
Opera
Full support 15 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 4.4 |
Chrome Android
Full support 18 |
Firefox Android
No support No |
Opera Android
Full support 14 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 1.5 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- Compatibility unknown
- Compatibility unknown
- Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.'
- Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
- Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.'
- Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
- See implementation notes.'
- See implementation notes.
Accessibility concerns
See also
HTML attribute: rel by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.