Both magneto‐transport and EPR experiments have shown the importance of the anisotropic character of the k‐f interaction between conduction and 4f electrons. For noble metals with rare‐earth impurities the magnitude of the anisotropic terms can be understood in terms of the hybridization of the conduction electrons with the outer 5d electrons of the rare‐earth impurities. To obtain a consistent description of the magnetotransport properties, we have included the spin‐orbit coupling of the 5d electrons as well as their crystal field splitting. The various parameters entering our model have been determined by fitting the isotropic transport properties as well as the anisotropic magnetoresistance arising from quadrupolescattering and the Hall effect due to skew scattering. We have used this model to calculate the 5d virtual bound state contribution to the g‐shift and linewidth of rare‐earth impurities in noble metals. After estimating the 6s contribution, we obtain a consistent fit for the g‐shift and linewidth of several rare‐earths in noble metals.