In about:config set the following preference to 'true': browser.search.openintab To get those preferences, enter about:config in the url-bar in a new tab. If you haven't done that previously, you will get a warning and will have to elect to proceed.

That didn't seem to fix the issue. I was able to navigate to the points mentioned and changed from false to true, closed the tab, did a search and it did not open a new tab when I clicked on a link. Other suggestions? Thanks for the help.

That is the setting and it works for me and has worked for others. Check it again. EDIT: If you are using a search page generated before the change was made, you may have to reload that page for the change to work. If that isn't the issue and no one can work out why the change doesn't work, you will have to right-click a search result and select "Open Link in New Tab".

What search site do you use? Most of them have a setting to code the results links to open in a new window, which Firefox will divert to a new tab instead. For example:

Google

https://www.google.com/preferences => "Where results open"

DuckDuckGo

https://duckduckgo.com/settings => "Open Links in a New Tab"

Bing

https://www.bing.com/account/general => "Results" section

Note: unless you log in to the site, this choice will be stored just in a cookie. So if you dump your cookies, you'll need to reselect your preference the next time.