diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5b35e8c..1d979e0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -379,6 +379,8 @@ markdown:
     enabled: true
     theme: ashen
     wrap: false
+  links:
+    external_new_tab: true
 blog:
   dir: blog
 ```
@@ -391,6 +393,7 @@ blog:
 | `markdown.syntax_highlighting.enabled` | Whether code should be highlighted.                                                           |
 | `markdown.syntax_highlighting.theme`   | [Pygments] style for highlighting.                                                            |
 | `markdown.syntax_highlighting.wrap`    | Whether the resulting code block should be word wrapped.                                      |
+| `markdown.links.external_new_tab`      | Whether external links should be opened in a new tab.                                         |
 | `blog.dir`                             | Name of a directory relative to `content/` whose children are automatically considered posts. |
 
 ### Sitemap
diff --git a/src/zona/config.py b/src/zona/config.py
index de3c985..63baac0 100644
--- a/src/zona/config.py
+++ b/src/zona/config.py
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@ class HighlightingConfig:
     wrap: bool = False
 
 
+@dataclass
+class LinksConfig:
+    external_new_tab: bool = True
+
+
 @dataclass
 class MarkdownConfig:
     image_labels: bool = True
@@ -44,6 +49,7 @@ class MarkdownConfig:
     syntax_highlighting: HighlightingConfig = field(
         default_factory=HighlightingConfig
     )
+    links: LinksConfig = field(default_factory=LinksConfig)
 
 
 @dataclass
diff --git a/src/zona/markdown.py b/src/zona/markdown.py
index ce73016..5a71d3b 100644
--- a/src/zona/markdown.py
+++ b/src/zona/markdown.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 import xml.etree.ElementTree as etree
 from collections.abc import Sequence
+from logging import Logger
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, override
 
 from l2m4m import LaTeX2MathMLExtension
-
-# from l2m4m import LaTeX2MathMLExtension
 from markdown import Markdown
 from markdown.extensions.abbr import AbbrExtension
 from markdown.extensions.attr_list import AttrListExtension
@@ -34,8 +33,6 @@ from zona.log import get_logger
 from zona.metadata import Metadata
 from zona.models import Item
 
-logger = get_logger()
-
 
 class ZonaImageTreeprocessor(Treeprocessor):
     """Implement Zona's image caption rendering."""
@@ -43,6 +40,7 @@ class ZonaImageTreeprocessor(Treeprocessor):
     def __init__(self, md: Markdown):
         super().__init__()
         self.md: Markdown = md
+        self.logger: Logger = get_logger()
 
     @override
     def run(self, root: etree.Element):
@@ -87,6 +85,7 @@ class ZonaLinkTreeprocessor(Treeprocessor):
     ):
         super().__init__()
         self.resolve: bool = resolve
+        self.logger: Logger = get_logger()
         if self.resolve:
             assert source is not None
             assert layout is not None
@@ -103,9 +102,15 @@ class ZonaLinkTreeprocessor(Treeprocessor):
             if not href:
                 continue
             if self.resolve:
+                assert self.config
                 cur = Path(href)
                 _href = href
-                if href.startswith("/"):
+                same_file = False
+                resolved = Path()
+                # href starting with anchor reference the current file
+                if href.startswith("#"):
+                    same_file = True
+                elif href.startswith("/"):
                     # resolve relative to content root
                     resolved = (
                         self.layout.content / cur.relative_to("/")
@@ -114,19 +119,25 @@ class ZonaLinkTreeprocessor(Treeprocessor):
                     # treat as relative link and try to resolve
                     resolved = (self.source.parent / cur).resolve()
                 # only substitute if link points to an actual file
-                if resolved.exists():
+                # that isn't the self file
+                if not same_file and resolved.exists():
                     item = self.item_map.get(resolved)
                     if item:
                         href = util.normalize_url(item.url)
                         element.set("href", href)
-                        logger.debug(
+                        self.logger.debug(
                             f"Link in file {self.source}: {_href} resolved to {href}"
                         )
                     else:
-                        logger.debug(
+                        self.logger.debug(
                             f"Warning: resolved path {resolved} not found in item map"
                         )
-            element.set("target", "_blank")
+                # open link in new tab if not self-link
+                elif (
+                    self.config.markdown.links.external_new_tab
+                    and not same_file
+                ):
+                    element.set("target", "_blank")
 
 
 def get_formatter(config: ZonaConfig):