google and the target="_blank" tag

how does google view this tag?

[shyspinner]

I'll bet this has been covered here before, but when I try a search I come up with nothing, so if anyone can post a link that might help me out, that would be great.

How does google view a target="_blank" tag? Is it considered bad in search engine terms to use this tag?

Thanks!

[BigDave]

Why would google care? Do you have any reason to suspect that there might be a problem?

[shyspinner]

The answer to both questions is "I don't know" that is why I am asking here. I like using the tag , because visitors don't leave my site, but on the other hand, what if I used the tag on every single link on my site, would this flag my site as a link farm,affiliate network or a site with no original content? Am I cheating some good link partners in some way? I simply don't know, and am trying to find out some info is all. I have partners I link with that are very good, and do not want to sabotage that. Just thought it would be good to ask for more info since I had a hard time finding anything on the subject.

[LostOne]

I think folks are beginning to go over the edge with "what will Google do" if I do this..or that...OR "Will they penalize me for this or that?" I don't see it harming anything. It's a common function that is used widely.

[skipfactor]

>>Is it considered bad in search engine terms to use this tag?

No, and the appropriate way to do it (IMO) is to only use blanks for external links/sites

Try a Google WW site search [google.com] instead.

[BigDave]

No, the appropriate way to do it is only use it when it makes sense to open the page in another window, and let the user decide at other times what they want to do.

If you want to keep me on your site, you will be much better off by not filling my screen with all sorts of new windows each time I click on a link.

A site like that has to be incredibly useful for me to stay on it for any length of time. I think that is the one thing I find more annoying than all flash sites.

But no, I don't think google would penalize you for something like that.

[skipfactor]

>>No, the appropriate way to do it is only use it when it makes sense to open the page in another window.

So when it makes sense huh? Unlike you, as I stated above, that was my opinion. I'm not really sure what you're trying to say.

[jo1ene]

I wish WW opened every thread in a new window. I hate having to right click. There are plenty of experts who disagree with you, BigDave, and plenty of Inter-nut users who routinely have 10+ windows open at a time becasue they consider it easier. Especially peoplee on dial-up. For example, I can have the new window loading in the background while continuing to read the article I'm on.

There are also people who prefer the toilet paper to dispense on the outside of the roll, and those who prefer it inside and those who don't care.

Worrying about G penalizing "_new" or "_blank" is like supposing that they penalize for using H tags. Definition of the word "appropriate" aside, the point is is that both target and H are part of the HTML standards.

[PatrickDeese]

I can't imagine why that would be frowned upon - and certainly if it suddenly became a "no-no" people would just use JS to spawn a new window or something - but there is no sense in punishing it.

OT:

> I wish WW opened every thread in a new window. I hate having to right click.

FWIW you can hold down the shift key and click on a hyperlink, and it will open in a new window too.

[shyspinner]

Thanks so much for your opinions, they really have helped. I can relate to what was said about dial up users, unfortunately I had to go back to dial up after having dsl for 3 years, and I use a tabbed browser, but do right click and open in a new window all the time. I only meant external links, the internal links do not have the tag, so I guess I will just leave the tag on the external links, since no one thought there was anything to worry about with that.

I thought I had read an argument once about page rank being transferred to and from a linking site in possibly a different way by using that tag or the target="new"

(meaning that the pr would somhow be depleted to the site opening in a new window or something to that effect)

so I did not want to be hurting the people who are linking to me if that were true.

Thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate it.

[BigDave]

Oh, I open new tabs all the time. Mind you, I am the one that opens a new tab as opposed to the website designer deciding that I need to have another window open. When I open a new window, I have no complaints about having to close it down. It is extra annoying when you prefer tabbed browsing and clicking a link opens a new browser window.

Appropriate places to use it within a site is when you are showing a hint, tool or definition. Appropriate times to use it going offsite is when you are in a tool like webmail.

And if you want to easily browse and open new tabs with one click, get Mozilla or firefox and a 3 button mouse. Clicking the link with the middle button will immediately open the link in a new tab.

And if you don't like my advice not to ever try and "trap" your visitors, don't follow it. But you would be well served to be aware that I am not the only one that finds such behavior annoying.

[skipfactor]

shyspinner, remember no post here said to use blanks for every external link. Welcome to WebmasterWorld.

[tr95]

I have all external links open in the same, named window, ie, target="new". (The target name must begin with a letter, not a number.) Using a named window prevents multiple window clutter. In addition, for people like myself with dual-headed displays, it is particularly convenient to keep the main site open on one monitor while opening links in the same window on the other monitor.