do you use target=" blank" on affiliate links?

[londrum]

I recently came across an issue with safari where my redirect script that i use for affiliate links was sometimes opening up a new tab with an about:blank page in it, instead of redirecting to the affiliate site.
apparently safari doesn't like the chain of redirects

putting rel="noopener" on the links might have helped a little bit, but removing target="_blank" is supposed to help as well.

Im just wondering how many of us still use target="_blank" for affiliate links, and whether it is frowned upon

[lucy24]

Would you like this question to be specifically about handling of affiliate links, or about approaches to target="_blank" in general?

[Taran]

I still use target="_blank" on affiliate links. Users expect it. Just add rel="noopener noreferrer" for security.

Your Safari issue sounds like a redirect chain problem, not a target blank problem. Too many hops before the final URL. Try shortening the chain.

Test without target blank on Safari. If it fixes it, drop it just for that browser. Otherwise keep it.