Decrease Bounce Rate by Using target="_blank" on External Links

Original posted on Erik Vold’s Blog PageRank is built on links, so search engine optimization is centered around them, and people link to the entities that they support. But many times, I see people increasing their own bounce rate by linking to an external page they support without using the target=”_blank” attribute+value pair on the anchor tag. This especially does not make sense most of the time, because most of the time, the external link is really a side note to the website and webpage at hand. So, using target=”_blank”, which forces the link to open in a new tab or window, is exactly what you should want, for the simple reason that it makes sense, and that it will reduce your bounce rate. Don’t be a fool, use target=”_blank”!