Target="_blank" and referral acquisition data

[AMA-DataSet]

Hi,

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

I have been reading up on this topic but there is some contradictory articles out there and I was hoping someone could clarify the latest practise for me.

Website A links out to four of its partner websites.
These links are using a target="_blank".

When i look at the acquisition data for any of the partner websites there is zero referral data from site A. 
I tested this wasn't an analytics bug by using the real time feature while clicking the partner links to see what had happened, and to also find the source, but I found that they are all being returned as a source direct. Ideally id like it to show the referrals once more for reporting purposes.

Do I need to add extra google analytics parameters/functions to track the outbound links? or should this referral data be appearing correctly and it is something unrelated to the links themselves? or should I throw in the towel and drop the target blanks?

Thank you in advance for your time.
Best Regards.

[Alick300]

Hi Liam,

IMO best way to track outbound link is event tracking.

If you are using tag manager @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABo-Sk1QzrQ

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1136920?hl=en

Thanks

[AMA-DataSet]

Hi Alick,

Thanks for your reply.

So just to clarify you are confirming that target blank links are seen as outbound links and are not tracked in acquisitions under referrals?

Thanks again.

[Alick300]

No I'm not saying that I suggest you to best way to track outbound link. If you want to track outbound link for target=_blank Please check Google document below and modify.

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1136920

Thanks

[SergioB1717]

Yes, the best article you can read at internet is:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1136920

It will help you a lot!=)