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An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Design System

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

CMS Design System
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    • For developers
    • Child Design Systems
    • Accessibility
    • Design Principles
    • Print guidelines
    • Support Policies
    • CSS normalization
      • Typography overview
      • Headings
      • Body
      • Content
      • Links
      • Lists
    • Spacing
      • Layout Grid
      • Breakpoints
    • Inverse Base
    • Theme colors
    • System color tokens
    • Components overview
    • Global config
    • Component analytics
    • Accordion
    • Alert
    • Autocomplete
    • Badge
    • Button
    • Card (M.gov)
    • Checkbox
      • Calendar Picker
      • Multi Input Date Field
      • Single Input Date Field
    • Drawer & Help Drawer
    • Dropdown
    • Filter Chip
      • Healthcare.gov Footer
      • Medicare.gov Footer
      • Healthcare.gov Header
      • Medicare.gov Header
    • Hint
    • Icon
    • Idle Timeout
    • Inline Error
    • Inset (HC.gov)
    • Label & Legend
      • Healthcare.gov Logo
      • HHS Logo
      • Medicare.gov Logo
    • Modal Dialog
    • Month Picker
    • Note Box
    • Pagination
    • Radio Button
    • Review
    • Skip Nav
    • Spinner
    • Stars (M.gov)
    • Step List
    • Table
    • Tabs
      • Label Masked Field
      • Masked Field
      • Text Field
    • Third Party External Link
    • Tooltip
    • USA Banner
    • Vertical Navigation
    • Patterns overview
      • Error validation
      • Forms
      • Form validation
    • Phone numbers
    • Utility Actions
    • ZIP codes
    • Layouts overview
      • One Column Page Layout
    • Documentation Page
    • Utilities overview
    • Background Color
      • Border Radius
      • Border
    • Display
    • Flexbox
    • Float
    • Focus
      • Font Size
      • Font Style
      • Font Weight
    • Margin
    • Overflow
    • Padding
      • Line Height
      • Measure
      • Text Alignment
      • Text Color
      • Text Decoration
      • Text Transform
      • Word Break
    • Vertical Align
    • Visibility
    • Separating labels, hints, and errors in v9
    • Standardizing spacing in v7
    • Standardizing theme colors in v7
    • Sass to CSS
    • Migrating to v4 buttons
    • Migrating to v2
    • Using agnostic typography classes

What's new?

View code on GitHub

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Third Party External Link

The third party external link component is used to notify a user that the action they are taking will take them to a new external website.

GithubStorybook logoStorybook

  • Examples
    • React
  • Guidance
  • Accessibility
    • Accessibility
    • Accessibility testing
  • Code
    • Analytics

Have ideas?

  • Contact the team
  • Start a discussion on GitHub
  • Edit this page

Examples

React

Review Storybook for React guidance of this component.

Guidance

Use this pattern when the user is in the middle of a task or application to let them know that the action they are taking will move them away from the current site and or process. This serves as a warning where the user can then decide to remain where they are in the application or process.

Any PDF link, whether internal or external, is not a use case for using the third-party link component.

  • PDF links should use the regular link style.
  • Add "(PDF)" at the end of link.

Any non .gov and .mil links will be treated as external whether they belong to a government agency or not, no exceptions.

Accessibility

Accessibility

  • Ensure that external links have unique, descriptive text—avoiding repetitive phrases like "read more"—and, if necessary, include appropriate ARIA labels to provide additional context for screen reader users.
  • Clicking a third-party external link will initiate a modal dialog notifying users that they are leaving a CMS website. Please reference the Modal Dialog for further accessibility guidance.

Accessibility testing

General accessibility testing

  • Regularly verify that third-party external links remain up-to-date.
  • Ensure that external links point to secure (HTTPS) websites to protect user data and privacy.
  • Test that third-party external links open in new tabs/windows.

Keyboard testing

  • Users should be able to navigate between links with a keyboard by using the “Tab” key.
  • Users should be able to activate a link by pressing the “Enter” key.
  • Users should be able to activate hover and focus states with a keyboard.

Screen reader testing

  • Use screen readers (e.g., NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver) to verify that external link indicators are announced appropriately.
  • Screen readers must explicitly mention "external link" or "opens in a new window" within the link text to alert users they are leaving the current site.

Code

Analytics

This component has analytics tracking available. Please see our developer documentation about using analytics in the design system.

  • CMS policy on external links
  • CMS external link disclaimer

On this page

  • Examples
    • React
  • Guidance
  • Accessibility
    • Accessibility
    • Accessibility testing
  • Code
    • Analytics

Have ideas?

  • Contact the team
  • Start a discussion on GitHub
  • Edit this page
Plain WritingPrivacy PolicyU.S. Web Design System
Department of Health and Human Services

A federal government website managed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21124