As you become more familiar with 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 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.”
You can display links on your website using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v.3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links Manager feature, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – you will not see it displayed on the 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 the Link Manager section when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
The Link Manager plugin displays the Links menu on your dashboard, even if you update 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 some time, 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)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WordPress administration 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 after installing it …
After activation, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ item in the WP admin menu …
(Links menu)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding new links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug displays in the URL of the link category. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will display in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when creating a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for visitors, 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 better suited to your business)
To change the default category name, 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 (remember to keep the slug in lowercase letters and replace all spaces with a hyphen), and click on Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Items’ etc).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update when finished …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many link categories as your site needs.
After configuring your link categories, you can start adding your links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, go to the WP dashboard menu and choose Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links – Add New)
This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …
(Links screen – 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 Addressand Description – Add New Link page)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO friendly URL of the 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target section)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category.
Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new window will open up in their web browser to display the content for that link. Your visitor will be able to see the information without leaving your page
- _none means that when visitors click on your 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Chloe Smith 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 still work. 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 the 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
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 page – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is stored 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 the 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 want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information in the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
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 update your link settings)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view all your links, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your web browser. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display additional fields in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Links page – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To modify a link in the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your admin menu to bring up the links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Change the link …
(Edit Link page)
After 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 everything correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your list …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – 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 individual links, hover over the link you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the checkboxes next to individual items that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Deleted links notification)
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 Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like your links to display …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area using drag & drop)
The Links widget provides various options. You can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This allows you to create and feature multiple link lists on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pulldown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
After configuring the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links will now appear on your site’s sidebar menu …
(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? If you want to learn more about configuring widgets, refer to this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filter, sort, and search functionality.
Sort Your 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 …
(Sort your links)
Search Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Searching your links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter your links by categories)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to find link categories, or click on the 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 link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to output a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your website that contains all the link categories in your Links area, 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 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 the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to WordPress.
Go here to learn more about creating links in WordPress posts & pages:
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group