As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites 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.”
You can display a featured links section on your website using the WordPress Link Manager plugin.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WP Links Menu – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)
If you’ve used an earlier version than 3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Link Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not display on your 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 feature is not visible when you log into your WP dashboard you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin displays the default Link Manager, 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 code to restore the hidden feature. The last time we checked, this plugin had not been updated for a while, but it should still work fine. If you don’t want to use the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, follow these instructions:
In the WP administration area, select 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, the ‘Links’ function will be restored to the WP sidebar menu area …
(Links management menu section)
Plugin Setup
Before adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, select Links > Link Categories in your dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your web browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: What you type in this field displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL part of your 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. (Optional)
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories screen)
Your new category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change the default link category name to something that your visitors can relate to. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘XYZ Sites’ etc).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site requires.
After configuring your link categories, you can add your links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in your WP dashboard menu …
(Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description – Add New Link)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address of the link category name. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link page)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how your link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the content for that link. This allows your visitors to access the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit your site and a new website 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link screen – Link Relationship (XFN) section)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Scarlet Gould and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and your links will work just fine. XFN makes your links more understandable to some sites 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 what relationship exists between the current document and the linked document. For example, if you don’t want search engines to follow your link, enter nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, help, index, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link – Advanced area)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add an image URL and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link can be displayed next to your link.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section for your own internal reference.
- Rating: You can add a rating score to the link if you would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not essential for links to work.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link 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 in your Blogroll section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain periods and hide them when not required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have created, select Links > All Links in the main admin menu …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ table. The Links table displays a list of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To show or hide fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Links table – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Hide or display – Table of links)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To edit a link, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your link information)
Edit your link details …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To remove links, go to the WP dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkboxes next to individual links that you want to remove, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The links will be deleted …
(Link deletion notification)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display your links on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP dashboard menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load in your web browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your active widget bars and drop it wherever you would like your links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area)
The Links widget offers various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget settings)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you add and display link sections sorted by categories throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
After configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should display on your sidebar menu …
(Links can be displayed on a 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? We have written a comprehensive article about configuring widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with searching, filtering, and sorting features.
Sort Links Function
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort your links)
Finding Your Links
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(Find links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. 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 screen)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, or if you would like to add a page containing a list of links 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, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you display a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, plus all links defined for 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 of your link collection that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other sites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
Go here to learn more about how to easily create hyperlinks in WordPress posts:
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