hi all do you think linking from my site to other sites under "target_blank" (opens a new window instead of opening the link url on the same window) counts as a weaker link to the target site? also, do you think a site that links many links under "target blank" - can be seen by G as less relevant? (i think - if your article is relevant, then a link inside the article should be relevant too and therefore when clicking a link should just be a natural continuance of the page -the new site you just went to...). is there a reference about it somewhere? anything on G webmaster central?
It's a tag to open new window for an out bound link, I don't think about it vs SEO. Because it doesn't show anything related to link building and relevant of content.
A sensible question: Still, I think that doesn't matter. On my website I always open foreign links in a new window, since I do not want to divert the interest of possible customers from my services by routing them through to other sites. And I definitely believe that this policy is acknowledged by G! In other words, G! will not treat those links differently from others (i.e. those that open the new site in the same window). G! usually values usability more than other considerations and this is definitely a usability question: it's unpractical ***not*** to find easily back to the initial site from where you started klicking through to others.
target=_blank is not a valid XHTML strict attribute value for anchor tag. But nevertheless it's a regular link and will have same value.