Is there any SEO downside to opening links in a new window?

• I like to use target='_blank' to open links in a new window rather than opening them in a same window. So, I'm wondering, am I losing any ranking advantage by doing so?

Answer:

Google's John Mueller answered this question a while back saying that it makes no difference either way...

You're correct :)

— John (@JohnMu) October 15, 2021

So whether you use <a href="domain.com/page"> or <a href="domain.com/page" target='_blank'>, Google treats them the same for ranking purposes.