diff --git a/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts b/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
index fbe92b30e..11037dd79 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import mditCjkFriendly from 'markdown-it-cjk-friendly'
 import { full as emojiPlugin } from 'markdown-it-emoji'
 import type { BuiltinLanguage, BuiltinTheme, Highlighter } from 'shiki'
 import type { Logger } from 'vite'
-import type { Awaitable } from '../shared'
+import type { Awaitable, ExternalLinkAttrValue } from '../shared'
 import { containerPlugin, type ContainerOptions } from './plugins/containers'
 import { gitHubAlertsPlugin } from './plugins/githubAlerts'
 import { highlight as createHighlighter } from './plugins/highlight'
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ export interface MarkdownOptions extends MarkdownItAsyncOptions {
    * Disable cache (experimental)
    */
   cache?: boolean
-  externalLinks?: Record<string, string>
+  externalLinks?: Record<string, string | ExternalLinkAttrValue>
 
   /* ==================== Syntax Highlighting ==================== */
 
@@ -279,7 +279,11 @@ export async function createMarkdownRenderer(
   imagePlugin(md, options.image)
   linkPlugin(
     md,
-    { target: '_blank', rel: 'noreferrer', ...options.externalLinks },
+    {
+      target: '_blank',
+      rel: { value: 'noreferrer', join: true },
+      ...options.externalLinks
+    },
     base,
     slugify
   )
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/plugins/link.ts b/src/node/markdown/plugins/link.ts
index 2fe2e1acc..d33726d08 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/plugins/link.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/plugins/link.ts
@@ -8,14 +8,15 @@ import {
   EXTERNAL_URL_RE,
   isExternal,
   treatAsHtml,
-  type MarkdownEnv
+  type MarkdownEnv,
+  type ExternalLinkAttrValue
 } from '../../shared'
 
 const indexRE = /(^|.*\/)index.md(#?.*)$/i
 
 export const linkPlugin = (
   md: MarkdownItAsync,
-  externalAttrs: Record<string, string>,
+  externalAttrs: Record<string, string | ExternalLinkAttrValue>,
   base: string,
   slugify: (str: string) => string
 ) => {
@@ -38,7 +39,15 @@ export const linkPlugin = (
       const url = hrefAttr[1]
       if (isExternal(url)) {
         Object.entries(externalAttrs).forEach(([key, val]) => {
-          token.attrSet(key, val)
+          if (typeof val === 'string') {
+            token.attrSet(key, val)
+          } else {
+            if (val.join) {
+              token.attrJoin(key, val.value)
+            } else {
+              token.attrSet(key, val.value)
+            }
+          }
         })
         // catch localhost links as dead link
         if (url.replace(EXTERNAL_URL_RE, '').startsWith('//localhost:')) {
diff --git a/src/shared/shared.ts b/src/shared/shared.ts
index f16a25bae..5d1c0d43d 100644
--- a/src/shared/shared.ts
+++ b/src/shared/shared.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ export type {
   SSGContext,
   AdditionalConfig,
   AdditionalConfigDict,
-  AdditionalConfigLoader
+  AdditionalConfigLoader,
+  ExternalLinkAttrValue
 } from '../../types/shared'
 
 export const EXTERNAL_URL_RE = /^(?:[a-z]+:|\/\/)/i
diff --git a/types/shared.d.ts b/types/shared.d.ts
index bc8d28d46..021b627e5 100644
--- a/types/shared.d.ts
+++ b/types/shared.d.ts
@@ -232,3 +232,8 @@ export interface MarkdownEnv {
   realPath?: string
   localeIndex?: string
 }
+
+export interface ExternalLinkAttrValue {
+  value: string
+  join?: boolean
+}