Linking structure question
-
I generally go with UX over SEO when it comes to pretty much anything on my site. But, my question today is about linking (both internal and external).
For internal links, I generally link in the same tab and for external links I generally open in a new tab. Recently I've gotten a few questions about external links opening in new tabs because some mobile devices can't open more than one tab at a time.
So, here is my questions. What do you do and why? Is there any SEO value to having your links open in a new tab?
Thanks.
-
i always open internal and external link from my site no sale window.
-
The only thing I would challenge here is the engagement signals part. I'm pretty sure Google can determine which window/tab you have active. I do understand your logic here though. I'm wondering if linking to another site in same tab and shortly "going back" to the original site would have any negative effect based on "helpful linking." ie. I'm wondering if Google can tell that when I link to other sources and then that person immediately (or very shortly) comes back to my page. My thought here is that I'm not linking to "helpful" resources and could have some sort of negative influence on my site and the third party site. At the end of the day, I'm sure all of this is .005% of ranking factors (if any) and I'm probably WAY over thinking this.
-
Most excellent Chris.
Thank you.
-
Algorithmically, there could be a benefit to having a link open a new browser window in that by leaving your page open while a visitor follows a link to another page, it may positively influence engagement signals (time on page, for example) google may use for ranking (as far as I know though, there's no data on that, though).
Here's what's been said by a few others:
Hubspot**: **If you're linking to an outside site, you want to give credit to them and drive traffic their way, but not at the expense of your own time-on-site. Opening a link in a new browser window, as opposed to the window they are currently in (your website!) makes it less likely that a user will permanently abandon your website for the one you linked to.
Anne Smarty: There is the fundamental law of the Internet ethics that says that you let the visitor decide how he wants to open the links.
Michael Martinez: Open External Links in the Same Browser Tab or Window....There can be few Website behaviors that are more user-unfriendly than this.
Vitaly Friedman: Should Links Open New Windows? No, they shouldn't
-
Interesting question.
I think that most people, as in your case, link to open to a new tab if they are linking to another page and don't want a user to be taken too far away from the existing webpage. This applies for both external and also internal webpages. I find in a lot of cases though, external links particularly don't go to a new tab just because people simply forget to put in the code!
There is no existing research and evidence out there to suggest that opening a link in a new tab will have any value on SEO. The key question for me to is to ask why would Google (or any other search engine) attribute more/less value to a link that opens in a new tab? If this question can't be answered in a way that is sound and sensical, then it's safe to say that opening a link in a new tab has no effect on SEO.
For me there is no sound or sensical way to answer that question, and so along with no empirical evidence suggesting otherwise, its safe to say that a link opening in a new tab has no SEO effect.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Link from a directory
Hi, im submitting a clients website to some directories. They are a dental practice and I'm adding them to this website http://goo.gl/Tvyabd Once i added the business to its directory it asked me to add a link (in so many words) back to its website from my clients website. Is this ok to do or is it seen as spam? Im confused about this as sometimes directories are free and sometimes they ask for a fee for it to be fast tracked to put it on the website. I always check the Domain authority of the websites and make sure they are relevant to the industry that I'm working in but again not sure if this would be seen as "paying" for links. Thanks Ade
Link Building | | popcreativeltd0 -
Link Value
My question is how valuable is getting a link from a PA 71 with roughly 20 links on it. I guess I am saying how many links from a PA of 30 would be a comparable indicator. I understand there is an almost exponential value of authority as they go higher, but I am looking for a good explanation from a technical aspect. Hypothetical Scenario Would a person be better off pursing 20 links from PA25 pages, or would you be better only getting 1 from the PA71 all things equal.
Link Building | | mbarden260 -
Reciprocal links
Are they worth anything, if they are from relevant sites? I'm I better off avoiding linking back wherever possible?
Link Building | | littlesthobo0 -
My Question : why site explorer not showing yahoo directory link
why site explorer not showing yahoo directory link i have tried many different sites which listed in yahoo directory but site explorer not showing ?
Link Building | | amreen8470 -
Links I am not Building?
Hi All, I check webmaster multiple times on a daily basis, and I noticed some links that I have not worked on and look a bit spammy, is it possible for people to purposely pont bad links in my direction? If that is the case is there a way for me to remove them myself? Also the number of total backlinks are very different in Webmaster and my Open Site Explorer, is this normal? Thanks again !
Link Building | | TP_Marketing0 -
How to beat This with Links?
Hello, So i am trying to beat this website gujratdetectives.com/ with a new website which has no backlinks as of now.
Link Building | | hardik_hrc
Now, I checked in open explorer that this site has many moderate level links. No high authority links but the problem is these links they all have title as the search keyword "detective in Gujarat" so maybe this is why this site rests on the top of this search keyword. So if building authority links into a different domain(Not detective related) with very high PR but WITHOUT title of relevancy. Anchor text would be the keyword but not the title of page. So the question is will those authority sites beat this gujratdetectives.com/ ???0 -
JavaScript is crawled by search engines, isn’t it? Does it mean that links embedded in JavaScript pass link juice?
I wonder If links embedded in JavaScript from an external Website pass link juice to the linked page and thus have a positive effect on google rankings. I read that JavaScipt is craweld. Does it mean that also the link juice is passed? I'm looking forward to your answers.
Link Building | | Tabea0 -
Many competitor's backlinks are in content anchor links. Ho do I get these same links?
Hi I managed to open up OSE. I'm finding that much of the competition's backlinks are in content anchor text links. Am I supposed to get backlinks from these same pages using the same anchor text but linking back to my page or is that allowed? If so, how do I get these in content blog post links? Thanks. Sunil.
Link Building | | sunilmuse0