As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites 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 links to your WordPress sidebar section (e.g. a “Top 10 Resources” section) using widgets.
Before the release of v.3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After version 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Feature – pre v.3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager)
If you were using the Links feature in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not appear on the dashboard 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 you can’t see a Links section on the main menu when you log into your WordPress admin area, you can add it by installing a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin displays the built-in Links menu on your dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to WordPress 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 this plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WP dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ section in your navigation menu …
(WordPress links management menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before adding links, it’s a good idea to first set 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 the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will load in your web browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL 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 your link category description.
Click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories)
The link category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can understand. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(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), then click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update when done …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can start adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, click on Links > Add New in the navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description fields)
Type in the following information:
- Name: What you enter in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the URL part of your 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.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target area – Add New Link screen)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 your link should open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a separate web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link. This allows your visitors to access the information without leaving your page
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave 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))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Brandon Smith 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 of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with 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 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting 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) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link page)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of where the image is located 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 will display 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 in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not required.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all the links you have added, go to the main navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ page. The Links screen displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view additional columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Links
To modify links, choose Links > All Links in your admin menu to bring up your list of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing links)
Make the changes you want to your link fields …
(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 check that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, go to your admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ screen.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all links.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title you want removed and click on Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the checkboxes next to individual links 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)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
Your selected links will be removed …
(Link deletion message)
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 make links display on your website.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP dashboard menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page 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 it to one of your active widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget offers a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed 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 allows you to add and feature links throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
You can create and display a list of links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, 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 links will show on your site’s sidebar menu …
(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 more help using widgets? If you want to learn more about using widgets, refer to this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filter, sort, and search functionality.
Sorting Links
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Searching Your Links
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(Searching links)
Filter 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by 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.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin gives you the ability to output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your website that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress sidebar.
Go here if you want to learn more creating HTML hyperlinks in WordPress posts:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)