Backlinks with target="blank" have less value than links by defect?
Target="blank" <a href="http://www.myweb.com" target="_blank">My web
</a>
Normal link<a href="<A href="http://www.myweb.com">My web</a>

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Short answer: the target attribute itself does not change a link's SEO value. As correctly noted, target="_blank" only instructs the browser to open a link in a new window/tab — it is a presentation detail, not a signal search engines use to judge relevance or pass link equity.

That said, the posts from and raise useful practical points. Opening external links in a new tab can help keep visitors on the original site, but it’s a UX choice: overuse is disorienting and opening internal navigation in new tabs generally hurts usability. Accessibility best practice is to make it clear when a link opens a new tab.

There’s one important technical caveat that wasn’t mentioned: links opened with target="_blank" can expose the originating page via window.opener, which allows the destination page to run scripts against the opener. To mitigate this, add the appropriate rel values. For broad compatibility and security, use something like:

<a href="https://example.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Example</a>

Note that rel="noreferrer" also suppresses the Referer header (which affects analytics/referrer reporting), so pick attributes based on whether referrer information is needed.

For SEO concerns, focus on things that actually matter: anchor text, link context, the presence of authoritative or marked-up rel values (for example, rel="nofollow"/"sponsored"/"ugc" which do influence how engines treat links), and the relevance/authority of the linking page. In short: address the UX and security implications of target="_blank", but don’t worry about it reducing backlink value.

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I don't believe so, although it would make sense a bit as opening in a new window is usually reserved to outside links and ads. Then again, internal links are always valued more than external links, aren't they?

The target attribute of the anchor tag does not affect SEO in any way so I wouldn't worry about it.

I only use the target="blank" when I am linking to another site. That way the prospect doesn't leave your site. I hate it when I'm on a site and every page opens to a new browser. By the time I'm done I have tons of browsers open.

I think the same, but there are webmasters-seo that say Backlinks with target="blank" have less value that a normal link. The question is in here. For a good navigation in our web, for external links is normal create links with target blank.

I think the same, but there are webmasters-seo that say Backlinks with target="blank" have less value that a normal link. The question is in here. For a good navigation in our web, for external links is normal create links with target blank.

They may say it but they're wrong. They're just a bunch of newbies either making stuff upor a bunch of newbies believing made up stuff. Target="_blank" is an indicator of nothing. It just means a link opens in a window. It in no way indicates the relevance or importance or quality of a page. That's why it has no SEO value good or bad.

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