As you continue to discover more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar section 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.”
The Links Manager lets you easily add and manage links to your WordPress sidebar area (e.g. a “We Use And Recommend” section) using a widget.
Before the release of WP v3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress v.3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WP Links Feature – pre v 3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager is no longer included in WordPress after WP v3.5)
If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than v 3.5 and updated your installation, then the Link Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve 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 the Links feature is not displayed when you log into your WP backend, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
Use this plugin to display the default Links feature on your WP dashboard, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code to your installation to restore the hidden feature. The last time we checked, this plugin had not been updated for some time, 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 – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WordPress Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, do the following:
In the WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installation …
After you’ve activated the plugin, the ‘Links’ function is restored to the admin menu area …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign your link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the main navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address of the link category name. It must all be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories)
The new category will display in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this default link category name to something that your visitors can relate to. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be listed under 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 the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process to add as many link categories as your site requires.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in the dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description section)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you type in this field displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL bit of your link category name. Use lowercase letters only without 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding your link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a new window will open up in their browser to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens links 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 page – Link Relationship (XFN))
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 Prisha Larsson and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. XFN makes the links defined on your site 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 a relationship 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, index, help, start, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced area – Add New Link screen)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of your image and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link can display next to your links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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 Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all your links, go to the WP dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ table. The Links table displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To view or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Links screen – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Hide or display – List of links)
Editing Links
To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your dashboard menu to bring up the table of links …
(WP Links – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing your links)
Edit the link fields …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and make sure that you have set up your link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To delete links, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want removed and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The selected links will be deleted …
(Deleted links message)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to make links display on your website or blog.
Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your widget bars and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget includes various configurable options. For example, you can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This lets you add and feature specific different links throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pulldown menu …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
Once you are done configuring your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will now appear on your site …
(An example of how 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 more help with widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on widgets. Go here to learn more:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sorting, searching, and filtering features.
Sort Links Function
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting your links)
Find Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(You can easily search links using the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering your links by categories)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website, or if you would like to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links.
Link Library
(Link library – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links area, and 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 of your links so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about the benefits of using this handy plugin, visit the plugin site:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
Go here if you want to learn more creating links in WordPress:
***
"Your training is the best in the world! It is simple, yet detailed, direct, understandable, memorable, and complete." Andrea Adams, FinancialJourney.org