As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or blogs that display on your sidebar menu.
According to official WordPress documentation …
“The term ‘blogroll’ was originally used because it was a list of links to other blogs, but you can include links to any sites.”
The Links Manager lets you easily add a links section to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager appeared in the WordPress menu until the release of WordPress version 3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature – excluded from the WordPress dashboard menu after WordPress v 3.5)
If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not appear on the menu.
How To Add A Link Section To WordPress
You can add a link section to your sidebar menu by creating a custom menu, or use a plugin like the one shown in the tutorial below.
If the Links Manager is not visible when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
The Link Manager plugin displays the built-in Links menu on your dashboard, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, this plugin had not been updated for a while, but it should still work fine. If you don’t want to use this plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, do the following:
In your WP administration area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ section on your WP admin menu …
(WordPress links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding any new links. This way, you can assign any new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to the dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your browser.
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears in the SEO friendly URL of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories screen)
Your category details will display in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when creating a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something that will make sense to your site visitors. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically display under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, the category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process and add as many different link categories as you need.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Add New Link screen – Name, Web Address& Description section)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit of your link category. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target fields)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category link.
Next, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where your link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens the link at the top level of the frame system if you’re using frames. Don’t worry about this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) fields – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Aanya Anderson and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and your links will still work. XFN makes your links more understandable to some websites and search engines that use this information.
rel – This field specifies the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute is used to define the relationship between the current document and the linked document. For example, if you don’t want search engines to follow your link, type nofollow into this field. Separate multiple ‘rel’ attributes using spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the image URL and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed will be displayed next to the links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
- Rating: You can add a rating score to the link if you want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your browser. The Links table displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view or hide information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Display/hide fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Links
To modify a link, click on Links > All Links in the dashboard menu to bring up your links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing links)
Make the changes you want to your link …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and make sure that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To remove links, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all your links.
To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you want to delete, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
Your selected links will be deleted …
(Link deletion notification)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main admin menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your web browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars and drop it wherever you would like your links to display …
(Add a links widget to your sidebar)
The Links widget includes various options. You can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you create and display link lists on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display a specific list of items …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
After setting up the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your link section will appear on your website’s sidebar …
(An example of how links can be displayed on your site’s sidebar)
As the above example shows, you can display specific links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple lists of links to your sidebar menu.
Need help with widgets? Go here if you would like to learn more about configuring widgets:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sort, filter, and search functionality.
Sort Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting your links)
Finding Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(Search your links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filter links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to find link categories, or click on the links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website, or if you want to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add links on your sidebar), then you may want to look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to display a list of your link categories and a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your website containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus all links listed in these categories. Additionally, you can select a sub-set of categories to display or not display, show only one category at a time, display a search box and find results based on visitor queries, display a form to accept user submissions that can be moderated by a site administrator, and even generate an RSS feed for your link collection so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
We have written a detailed article about adding HTML hyperlinks in your WordPress content. Go here to learn more:
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