As you continue to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external websites or blogs displayed 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 add and manage external hyperlinks to your sidebar menu (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.
Prior to the release of WP v.3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Manager Feature – pre v 3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager – excluded from WordPress after WordPress version 3.5)
If you have had an earlier version than v3.5 installed and updated your installation, 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 menu section is not displayed when you log into your WP admin area, you can add this feature via a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
You can use this plugin to display the Link Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to your installation in order 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 Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, do the following:
In your WP dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then 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 …
Once you’ve activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will show on the WP sidebar menu screen …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Setup
Before you start adding links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your WP admin menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- 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 your link category description. (Optional)
When done, click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories area)
The category details will display in the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when creating a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your visitors. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Change 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 the Update link Category button …
(Edit the default link category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many new link categories as your site needs.
After you have finished configuring your link categories, you can start adding your links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, go to the admin menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will load in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter your link details …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Addressand Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category. It must all be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target fields)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
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 the link, a new, separate window will open up in their web browser to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will leave 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 just ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Nathan Larsson and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with 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, type nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, index, help, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to 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 link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of your image 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 will be displayed next to the links.
- 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 want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not required.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you select Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private lets you add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to the WP dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your browser. The Links page displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To display additional information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – List of links)
Show/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Your Links
To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing link information)
Edit your link information …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table of links if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check boxes next to individual items that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The 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, let’s show you how to display links on your site.
Using The Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen in your 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 your widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want the links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget provides various settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - options)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This lets you add and feature lists of links sorted by categories throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(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)
Once you are done configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your link section should appear on your sidebar menu …
(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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about adding widgets. For more details:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sorting, searching, and filtering functions.
Sort Your Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Finding Your Links
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(You can find links using the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link category …
(Filter your links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website or blog, or if you want 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 links.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin lets you output a list of your link categories with a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin website.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus all links listed in 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 for your link collection so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress sidebar.
We have written a detailed article about how to add links into WordPress. Go here to learn more about this:
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