WooCommerce: Edit External Product Image URL

We’ve already seen how to open the External Product “Buy Product” button in a new browser tab – and now it’s time to complete the full picture for External/Affiliate WooCommerce Products: how do we also link the “featured” image to the same external URL?

Our goal is to get the External Product featured image to link to the same “Buy Product” URL

PHP Snippet Part 1: Disable Zoom/Gallery (For External Products)

If we want to link to a URL, we first need to disable the default WooCommerce zoom and lightbox gallery functionalities.

You can use https://businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-disable-zoom-gallery-slider-lightbox-single-product/ for that.

Also, make sure to disable the Product Gallery e.g. that the external product has only 1 featured image.

PHP Snippet Part 2: Link Featured Image to External Product URL @ WooCommerce Single Product Page

/**
 * @snippet       Image to External URL - WooCommerce Single Product
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 3.8
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */

add_filter( 'woocommerce_single_product_image_thumbnail_html', 'bbloomer_image_link_external_url', 100, 2 );

function bbloomer_image_link_external_url( $html, $post_thumbnail_id ) {
   global $product;
   if ( ! $product->is_type( 'external' ) ) return $html;
   $url = $product->add_to_cart_url();
   $pattern = "/(?<=href=(\"|'))[^\"']+(?=(\"|'))/";
   $html = preg_replace( $pattern, $url, $html );  
   return $html;
}

Where to add custom code?

You should place PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file and CSS at the bottom of its style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files - if you need more guidance, please take a look at my guide "Should I Add Custom Code Via WP Editor, FTP or Code Snippets?" and my video tutorial "Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?"

Does this snippet (still) work?

Please let me know in the comments if everything went as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting.

If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 17,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates and 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance!

Need Help with WooCommerce?

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Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza.

10 thoughts on “WooCommerce: Edit External Product Image URL

  1. Hi there,
    Your snippet is exactly what I need (if I understand correctly) – but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work for me. I have a single product page that needs to link to an external page as the shop is external. I’ve disabled the light-box etc but when I do that the link on the Woo Image doesn’t work. If I don’t disable the zoom and light-box the link works, but I really can’t cope with the zooming on my page.

    I’m using the Divi theme if that helps?

    1. Hi Elsa! What about disabling Zoom but not Lightbox?

  2. Hi, I’m wondering is there an option to disable the little magnifying glass icon (maybe just hide it) and instead make it possible to just click anywhere on the image to zoom it to a full screen in lightbox?

  3. Hi,

    Snippet works great. But I would like to ask, is there a snippet that would allow the same external click functionality after clicking on a product image on the product listing page? I mean categories, brandpages or tag pages.
    In addition, I would also need the link to open in a new window tab.
    Could you give me an advice please?
    Thank you very much.

    Regards,

    Tomas.

    1. Hi Tomas, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

  4. It doesn’t work for me.

    I use Code Snippet plugin to insert any PHP or CSS

    1. Hello Max, thanks for your comment! I just tested this again with Storefront theme and it works perfectly. Maybe your theme (or another plugin) is messing/conflicting with my snippet.

      To troubleshoot, disable all plugins but WooCommerce and also switch temporarily to “Twentytwenty” theme (load the snippet there in functions.php) as explained here: https://www.businessbloomer.com/lesson/trwm4l01/

      Once you do that, does it work? If yes, you have a problem with your current theme or one of the plugins.

      Hope this helps!

  5. Hi,

    Thanks for this snippet.
    Is there a way to open the link in new window?

    Thanks

    1. Hi Bart, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

Questions? Feedback? Support? Leave your Comment Now!
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If you are writing code, please wrap it between shortcodes: [php]code_here[/php]. Failure to complying with this (as well as going off topic, not writing in English, etc.) will result in comment deletion. You should expect a reply in about 2 weeks - this is a popular blog but I need to get paid work done first. Please consider joining BloomerArmada to get blog comment reply priority, ask me 1-to-1 WooCommerce questions and enjoy many more perks. Thank you :)

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