diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ff823fd7..ca6c6136 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@ There is a single parameter object with sensible defaults that can be overridden
 ```toml
 [paige]
 color = "#0d6efd" # Bootstrap primary color and theme color for Safari and Windows
+external_link_new_tab = false # Open external links in new tabs
 math = false # Enable math typesetting
 style = "" # CSS included at the end of the stylesheet, before style-last.css
 
diff --git a/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html b/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9cc0acd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{{ $external := false }}
+{{ if (urls.Parse .Destination).IsAbs }}
+    {{ $external = not (strings.HasSuffix .Destination site.BaseURL) }}
+{{ end }}
+{{ $newtab := and $external site.Params.paige.external_link_new_tab }}
+<a {{ with .Destination }} href="{{ . }}" {{ end }} {{ if $newtab }} target="_blank" {{ end }} {{ with .Title }} title="{{ . }}" {{ end }}>{{ .Text }}</a>