diff --git a/js/autocomplete.js b/js/autocomplete.js
index a8d9e6cda1411ebb10b7336b791fee2ad5b8cd6a..1570f108f981560517c0f88cab6e026a3c84b8a4 100644
--- a/js/autocomplete.js
+++ b/js/autocomplete.js
@@ -76,9 +76,7 @@
    *   The jQuery UI settings object.
    */
   function response(event, ui) {
-    if (ui.content.length === 0) {
-      $('.linkit-link-information > span').text(event.target.value);
-    }
+    $('.linkit-link-information > span').text(event.target.value);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/linkit.module b/linkit.module
index ce676dfff7d65ca5208d3fb58acee0561f05c468..c073d26196a626ec6de938a16972ae0749776b90 100644
--- a/linkit.module
+++ b/linkit.module
@@ -40,10 +40,15 @@ function linkit_form_editor_link_dialog_alter(&$form, FormStateInterface $form_s
   /** @var \Drupal\linkit\Entity\Profile $linkit_profile */
   $linkit_profile = Drupal::entityTypeManager()->getStorage('linkit_profile')->load($linkit_profile_id);
 
-  $user_input = $form_state->getUserInput();
-  $input = isset($user_input['editor_object']) ? $user_input['editor_object'] : [];
-  $data_entity_type = isset($input['data-entity-type']) ? $input['data-entity-type'] : '';
-  $data_entity_uuid = isset($input['data-entity-uuid']) ? $input['data-entity-uuid'] : '';
+  if (isset($form_state->getUserInput()['editor_object'])) {
+    $input = $form_state->getUserInput()['editor_object'];
+    $form_state->set('link_element', $input);
+    $form_state->setCached(TRUE);
+  }
+  else {
+    // Retrieve the link element's attributes from form state.
+    $input = $form_state->get('link_element') ?: [];
+  }
 
   // If the filter_html filter is activated, or any other filters using
   // XSS:filter(), it will remove 'entity:' from the href as it thinks it's a
@@ -51,10 +56,10 @@ function linkit_form_editor_link_dialog_alter(&$form, FormStateInterface $form_s
   // link. It is possible given that data-entity-type and data-entity-uuid is
   // set on the link element.
   try {
-    if (!empty($data_entity_type) && !empty($data_entity_uuid)) {
+    if (!empty($input['data-entity-type']) && !empty($input['data-entity-uuid'])) {
       /** @var \Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityInterface $entity */
       $entity = \Drupal::service('entity.repository')
-        ->loadEntityByUuid($data_entity_type, $data_entity_uuid);
+        ->loadEntityByUuid($input['data-entity-type'], $input['data-entity-uuid']);
       $href = 'entity:' . $entity->getEntityTypeId() . '/' . $entity->id();
       $access = !$entity->access('view', NULL, TRUE)->isForbidden();
     }
@@ -123,13 +128,20 @@ function linkit_form_editor_link_dialog_alter(&$form, FormStateInterface $form_s
  * Generates data-entity-type and data-entity-uuid attributes from href.
  */
 function linkit_form_editor_link_dialog_validate(array &$form, FormStateInterface $form_state) {
+  $link_element = $form_state->get('link_element');
+
   // Check if the 'href' attribute contains a entity: URI.
   $href = $form_state->getValue(['attributes', 'href']);
   $uri_parts = parse_url($href);
 
   if (!$uri_parts || !isset($uri_parts['scheme']) || $uri_parts['scheme'] !== 'entity') {
-    $form_state->setValue(['attributes', 'data-entity-type'], '');
-    $form_state->setValue(['attributes', 'data-entity-uuid'], '');
+    // Only set the data attributes to an empty string if the link is edited.
+    // This is to prevent new links that does not point to entities to have
+    // empty data attributes.
+    if (!empty($link_element)) {
+      $form_state->setValue(['attributes', 'data-entity-type'], '');
+      $form_state->setValue(['attributes', 'data-entity-uuid'], '');
+    }
     return;
   }
 
diff --git a/tests/src/FunctionalJavascript/LinkitDialogTest.php b/tests/src/FunctionalJavascript/LinkitDialogTest.php
index 7786a1afdf319c38067f8f5acecf46cc3d1472a7..df0f528565f045769bb69496b492837f9cf3d881 100644
--- a/tests/src/FunctionalJavascript/LinkitDialogTest.php
+++ b/tests/src/FunctionalJavascript/LinkitDialogTest.php
@@ -116,22 +116,22 @@ class LinkitDialogTest extends JavascriptTestBase {
    * Test the link dialog.
    */
   public function testLinkDialog() {
+    $session = $this->getSession();
+    $web_assert = $this->assertSession();
+    $page = $session->getPage();
+
     // Create test nodes.
     $this->demoEntity = $this->createNode(['title' => 'Foo']);
 
     // Go to node creation page.
     $this->drupalGet('node/add/page');
-    $session = $this->getSession();
-    $web_assert = $this->assertSession();
-    $page = $session->getPage();
 
     // Wait until the editor has been loaded.
     $ckeditor_loaded = $this->getSession()->wait(5000, "jQuery('.cke_contents').length > 0");
     $this->assertTrue($ckeditor_loaded, 'The editor has been loaded.');
 
     // Click on the drupallink plugin.
-    $link_button = $page->find('css', 'a.cke_button__drupallink');
-    $link_button->click();
+    $page->find('css', 'a.cke_button__drupallink')->click();
 
     // Wait for the form to load.
     $web_assert->assertWaitOnAjaxRequest();
@@ -167,8 +167,7 @@ class LinkitDialogTest extends JavascriptTestBase {
     $this->assertEquals(1, count($results), 'Found autocomplete result');
 
     // Find the first result and click it.
-    $result_selection = $page->find('xpath', '(//li[contains(@class, "linkit-result") and contains(@class, "ui-menu-item")])[1]');
-    $result_selection->click();
+    $page->find('xpath', '(//li[contains(@class, "linkit-result") and contains(@class, "ui-menu-item")])[1]')->click();
 
     // Make sure the href field is populated with the node uri.
     $this->assertEquals('entity:' . $this->demoEntity->getEntityTypeId() . '/' . $this->demoEntity->id(), $input_field->getValue(), 'The href field is populated with the node uri');
@@ -179,8 +178,7 @@ class LinkitDialogTest extends JavascriptTestBase {
     $this->assertEquals($this->demoEntity->label(), $link_information, 'Link information is populated');
 
     // Save the dialog input.
-    $button = $page->find('css', '.editor-link-dialog')->find('css', '.button.form-submit span');
-    $button->click();
+    $page->find('css', '.editor-link-dialog')->find('css', '.button.form-submit span')->click();
 
     // Wait for the dialog to close.
     $web_assert->assertWaitOnAjaxRequest();
@@ -204,4 +202,76 @@ JS;
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Tests adding a link with no data attributes.
+   */
+  public function testLinkDialogWithNonDataAttributes() {
+    $session = $this->getSession();
+    $web_assert = $this->assertSession();
+    $page = $session->getPage();
+
+    // Go to node creation page.
+    $this->drupalGet('node/add/page');
+
+    // Wait until the editor has been loaded.
+    $ckeditor_loaded = $this->getSession()->wait(5000, "jQuery('.cke_contents').length > 0");
+    $this->assertTrue($ckeditor_loaded, 'The editor has been loaded.');
+
+    // Click on the drupallink plugin.
+    $page->find('css', 'a.cke_button__drupallink')->click();
+
+    // Wait for the form to load.
+    $web_assert->assertWaitOnAjaxRequest();
+
+    // Find the href field.
+    $input_field = $page->findField('attributes[href]');
+
+    // Make sure the link information is empty.
+    $javascript = "(function (){ return jQuery('.linkit-link-information > span').text(); })()";
+    $link_information = $session->evaluateScript($javascript);
+    $this->assertEquals('', $link_information, 'Link information is empty');
+
+    // Trigger a keydown event to active a autocomplete search.
+    $input_field->setValue('http://example.co');
+    $input_field->keyDown('m');
+
+    // Wait for the autocomplete to be done.
+    $this->getSession()->wait(1000);
+
+    // Make sure the autocomplete result container is hidden.
+    $this->assertFalse($page->find('css', 'ul.linkit-ui-autocomplete')->isVisible());
+
+    // Make sure the href field is populated with the node uri.
+    $this->assertEquals('http://example.com', $input_field->getValue(), 'The href field is the same as the URI');
+
+    // Make sure the link information is populated.
+    $javascript = "(function (){ return jQuery('.linkit-link-information > span').text(); })()";
+    $link_information = $session->evaluateScript($javascript);
+    $this->assertEquals('http://example.com', $link_information, 'Link information is populated');
+
+    // Save the dialog input.
+    $button = $page->find('css', '.editor-link-dialog')->find('css', '.button.form-submit span');
+    $button->click();
+
+    // Wait for the dialog to close.
+    $web_assert->assertWaitOnAjaxRequest();
+
+    // We can't use $session->switchToIFrame() here, because the iframe does not
+    // have a name.
+    foreach (['data-entity-type', 'data-entity-uuid'] as $attr) {
+      $javascript = <<<JS
+        (function(){
+          var iframes = document.getElementsByClassName('cke_wysiwyg_frame');
+          if (iframes.length) {
+            var doc = iframes[0].contentDocument || iframes[0].contentWindow.document;
+            var link = doc.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
+            return link.getAttribute("$attr");
+          }
+        })()
+JS;
+      $link_attr = $session->evaluateScript($javascript);
+      $this->assertNull($link_attr, $attr . ' was not found');
+    }
+  }
+
 }