As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar menu as a blogroll.
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 manage a blogroll using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will display on your sidebar once you add the Links widget.
Prior to the release of v 3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WP Links Feature – pre version 3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version than 3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it.
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 you can’t see the Link Manager section when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
You can use this plugin to display 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: This plugin adds a single line of template code to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the plugin had not been updated for some time, but it should still work fine. If you don’t want to use this 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/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From the WordPress administration area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will show on the admin menu screen …
(WordPress links menu)
Configuring The Plugin
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding links. 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, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will load in your web browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL part of your link category. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …
(Link Categories screen)
The link category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this default link category name to something that will make sense to your visitors. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name (remember to keep the slug in lowercase letters and replace all spaces with a hyphen), and click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link 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 to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter your link details …
(Add New Link screen – Name, Web Address& Description)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter here displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of the link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target section)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category link.
Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how the link should open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new window will open up in their browser to display the information associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit your site and a new site or page will load in your 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 …
(Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Robert Gould and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all of your links will still work. XFN makes your links more understandable to some websites and search engines that use this information.
rel – This field lets you specify the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute defines what relationship exists 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section 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 section)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the image URL and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed can be displayed next to your links.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section for your own internal reference.
- Rating: Add a rating score to the link if you would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(You can make links private by checking the box)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all your links, select Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The Links page displays a list of all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display additional columns in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links page)
Show/hide fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Links page – Show/hide screen options)
Editing Your Links
To edit links, go to the dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your link information)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (your 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 a link from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the admin menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all your links at once.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the checkbox next to every item that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(links deleted notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your website.
Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will display in your web browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget areas and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized menu using drag and drop)
The Links widget offers various settings. You can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - options)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar as you want. This lets you create and display specific link lists throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Display a list of items for a specific category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link ID, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
After configuring your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links should show up immediately on your site’s sidebar …
(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 more help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about using widgets. To learn more, go here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filtering, sorting, and searching functions.
Sorting Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort your links)
Search Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Find links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter your links by categories)
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 displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your site, 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 links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library gives you the ability to output a list of your link categories with a complete list of links plus descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin documentation.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your web site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, plus all links defined for these categories. 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 links so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
If you want to learn more about adding HTML links to WordPress posts, see this article:
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