Link attributes & basics · Knowledge
Should external links open in a new tab?
This is one of the web's honest taste questions: site owners love new tabs (the visitor stays “here”), usability purists dislike them (the back button breaks, control is taken from the user).
Not a taste question: whoever uses target=“_blank” pairs it with noopener – that rule is security, not style.
Both sides fairly – and a defensible middle line
The case for new tabs: visitors in the middle of an article, a form or a comparison do not lose their place when following a source; on content sites with reference-heavy writing, external excursions returning “by themselves” genuinely fits reading flow, and many visitors expect exactly that behaviour from external links. The case against: the browser already offers everyone a choice (middle-click, Ctrl+click opens a tab anyway), while target=“_blank” removes the choice in the other direction; the back button – the most-used navigation element there is – dies in the new tab, and on mobile, tab piles grow faster than users clean them. A defensible middle line for typical content sites: internal links always in the same tab (your own site must never fragment itself), external links in a new tab if your audience and content type favour it – applied consistently rather than link by link, which is precisely the kind of rule a site-wide tool enforces better than editorial memory; our JNofollow plugin ships the target option for exactly this, always welded to noopener (labelled in-house recommendation). Whatever you choose: choose it once, site-wide, and let consistency be the feature.
Key facts
- Pro new tab: reading position preserved, expected behaviour for external links on content sites.
- Contra: back button breaks, user choice is taken (middle-click already offered it), mobile tab piles.
- Iron rule: target=_blank never without noopener – security, not style.
- Internal links: always same tab – a site must not fragment itself.
- Whatever the choice: decide once, enforce site-wide – consistency beats link-by-link taste.