If you are using a tabbed browser, it is most convenient to have your search results and websites that you visit open in a new tab.

Depending on your browser, this is set up a little differently.

In Firefox:

Go to Tools, Options... then to make each search result open in a new tab instead of a new window, go to the Tabs tab. Then select New pages should be opened in: a new tab.

Now you can close this window and return to where you came from.

In Internet Explorer 7

Go to the Tools Menu and select Internet Options.

On the General tab, you will see the Settings for Tabs. Select Settings:

Last, make sure Enabled Tabbed Browsing is checked and When a pop-up is encountered make sure Always open pop-ups in a new window is selected.

Now you can close this window and return to where you came from.