diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py b/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
index c01207e56..4355df12e 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ class HintContext:
         to_follow: The link to follow when enter is pressed.
         args: Custom arguments for userscript/spawn
         rapid: Whether to do rapid hinting.
+        add_history: Whether to add yanked or spawned link to the history.
         filterstr: Used to save the filter string for restoring in rapid mode.
         tab: The WebTab object we started hinting in.
         group: The group of web elements to hint.
@@ -164,6 +165,7 @@ class HintContext:
         self.baseurl = None
         self.to_follow = None
         self.rapid = False
+        self.add_history = False
         self.filterstr = None
         self.args = []
         self.tab = None
@@ -601,13 +603,15 @@ class HintManager(QObject):
                        star_args_optional=True, maxsplit=2)
     @cmdutils.argument('win_id', win_id=True)
     def start(self, rapid=False, group=webelem.Group.all, target=Target.normal,
-              *args, win_id, mode=None):
+              *args, win_id, mode=None, add_history=False):
         """Start hinting.
 
         Args:
             rapid: Whether to do rapid hinting. This is only possible with
                    targets `tab` (with background-tabs=true), `tab-bg`,
                    `window`, `run`, `hover`, `userscript` and `spawn`.
+            add_history: Whether to add spawned or yanked link to the
+                       browsing history.
             group: The element types to hint.
 
                 - `all`: All clickable elements.
@@ -690,6 +694,7 @@ class HintManager(QObject):
         self._context.target = target
         self._context.rapid = rapid
         self._context.hint_mode = mode
+        self._context.add_history = add_history
         try:
             self._context.baseurl = tabbed_browser.current_url()
         except qtutils.QtValueError:
@@ -859,6 +864,8 @@ class HintManager(QObject):
                 return
             handler = functools.partial(url_handlers[self._context.target],
                                         url, self._context)
+            if self._context.add_history:
+                objreg.get('web-history').add_url(url, "")
         else:
             raise ValueError("No suitable handler found!")
 
diff --git a/tests/end2end/features/history.feature b/tests/end2end/features/history.feature
index 05a896be2..f4f57dcb7 100644
--- a/tests/end2end/features/history.feature
+++ b/tests/end2end/features/history.feature
@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ Feature: Page history
         And I run :history-clear
         Then the history file should be empty
 
+    Scenario: History with yanked URL and 'add to history' flag
+        When I open data/hints/html/simple.html
+        And I hint with args "--add-history links yank" and follow a
+        Then the history file should contain:
+            http://localhost:(port)/data/hints/html/simple.html Simple link
+            http://localhost:(port)/data/hello.txt
+
     ## Bugs
 
     @qtwebengine_skip