Target="_blank"

[ChristopherGlaeser]

Do href links that leave a site and use target="_blank" to open a new tab impact SEO?

[Jonathan1979]

Nope, its simply a link. I use them routinely for outgoing links myself.

[WilliamBay]

Short answer: Highly doubt it.

Long answer: I haven't seen anything from any of the ranking factors Moz, or anyone else produces, that would indicate so.
And under normal linking I can't imagine a situation that would cause a User based issue (like increased bounces because you got launched in another window), unless it's really excessive.
For example, I deal with professional photographers sites, and they sometimes have a portfolio site, and a blog, and sometimes they are two different systems with two different experiences and often times open the other in a new window. That is very annoying and a can kill a user's experience and they end up with high bounce rates.

I think if you're just sending links to other useful sites, target="_blank" is perfectly fine to use. I do it on my site all the time.