diff --git a/exampleSite/content/basics/migration/_index.en.md b/exampleSite/content/basics/migration/_index.en.md
index 6b74c0a07a..5239b661b3 100644
--- a/exampleSite/content/basics/migration/_index.en.md
+++ b/exampleSite/content/basics/migration/_index.en.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ This document shows you what's new in the latest release. For a detailed list of
 
 ## 5.9.0 (not yet released)
 
+- {{% badge style="note" title=" " %}}Change{{% /badge %}} Absolute links prefixed with `http://` or `https://` are now opened in a separate browser tab.
+
 - {{% badge style="info" icon="plus-circle" title=" " %}}New{{% /badge %}} The theme now supports [Hugo's module system](https://gohugo.io/hugo-modules/).
 
 ---
diff --git a/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html b/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html
index b6753c853c..01ab9f9306 100644
--- a/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html
+++ b/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-<!-- This code opens an external link in a new tab. -->
-
-<a href="{{ .Destination | safeURL }}"{{ with .Title}} title="{{ . }}"{{ end }}{{ if strings.HasPrefix .Destination "http" }} target="_blank" rel="noopener"{{ end }}>
-   {{ .Text | safeHTML }}
-</a>
\ No newline at end of file
+{{- partial "shortcodes/link.html" (dict
+  "context" .Page
+  "url" .Destination
+  "title" .Title
+  "content" .Text
+) }}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/layouts/partials/shortcodes/link.html b/layouts/partials/shortcodes/link.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..faf18543a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/layouts/partials/shortcodes/link.html
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{{- $context := .context }}
+{{- $url := .url }}
+{{- $title := .title | default "" }}
+{{- $title = trim $title " " }}
+{{- $content := .content }}
+{{- $target := .target | default "" }}
+{{- if and (eq (len $target) 0) (or (strings.HasPrefix $url "http://") (strings.HasPrefix $url "https://") ) }}
+  {{- $target = "_blank" }}
+{{- end -}}
+<a href="{{ $url | safeURL }}"{{ if $title }} title="{{ $title }}"{{ end }}{{ if gt (len $target) 0 }} target="{{ $target }}" rel="noopener"{{ end }}>{{ $content | safeHTML }}</a>
\ No newline at end of file