I would like for the link to open in a new tab AND stay focused on the previous tab with search bar firefox suggestions still open. Even if I hold SHIFT to not lose focus on current tab it CLOSES the search bar suggestions! I then have to type in what I was searching for again. I would like to quickly open every link via a certain keyword in search.

"When you open a link, image or media in a new tab, switch to it immediately" in Settings > General > Tabs is NOT selected. And even if that helped it would still close the search bar after middle mouse clicking a link.