Target=Blank question for external links on a website

Hey,

What do you think about target=blank attribute for external links? I always like to add this for external resources in order not to lose visitors and let them go to another website.

Also, I assume it makes it easier for them to keep both resources open, so they can later return to the original article they were reading.

As a reader, I always prefer to open links to external pages in new windows. But as I am biased being in digital marketing for many years, it might be different when it comes to "regular" internet users.

Still, the main issue is that it sounds like a good strategy for desktop, but what about mobile? On mobile, it might be not that great UX-practice to have new tabs opening up. It might create a bit of a mess unlike desktop where you have more space. What's your opinion on this?

I was analyzing one blogpost and found that the guy that was dealing with the website before me left (probably unintentionally) all links opening in the same window. So, my first reaction was to change this. However, I saw from the Search Console that this page has 5x more visits from mobile than desktop.

So, here is the question to be or not to be / to add "target=blank" or not

NeVeRFoLdinG said:

So, here is the question to be or not to be

/ to add "target=blank" or not

Click to expand...

Yes it is commonly used and there is no problem with that; if you want to keep your site opened in a tab so that the visitor may come back easily, it is fine and should increase retention.

W3C doesn't recommend to open external links in new tab in most of cases.
There is some exceptions mentioned here https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G200.html

But I think that a lot of people are used to it now, so it doesn't really matter if you choose to open external link in new tab.
You should keep it constant : if you choose to add target="_blank" for external links, don't mix with some external links without target="_blank"
Also, do not forget to add "noopener" or "noopener noreferrer" rel attribute to the link if you want more security.

Yeah, it's important to keep it consistent, but what about on mobile? Does it interfere in any way with user experience or it doesn't make a big difference?

On my site I make internal links open in the same window and external links open in a new tab (not a new window).

Тhanks @Dolan! I've also decided to keep it that way, won't change the way how external links are opening at the moment.