As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar is sometimes referred to 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 add and manage links to your sidebar menu (e.g. a “We Use And Recommend” section) using a widget.
Prior to the release of v3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After v.3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(The Links Manager feature appeared in the WordPress admin menu until the release of WordPress v 3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature is no longer part of the menu after WordPress version 3.5)
If you’ve used an earlier version than v3.5 and updated your installation, then the Link 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 the Link Manager is not visible when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step 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)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin restores 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: This plugin adds a single line of code 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From the WordPress administration menu, select 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 area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ item on your navigation menu screen …
(Links menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before adding new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the search-engine friendly URL 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.
Click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories)
The new category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this default WordPress link category name to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
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, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Edit the default link category)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Sponsors’ etc).
Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding New Links
To add a new link, go to the WP admin menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will load in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Addressand Description fields – Add New Link screen)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit 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 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 link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new web browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link. This lets your visitors see the link information without leaving your website
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will leave 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. Don’t worry about this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Michael Schwartz and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and your links will still work. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links more understandable to some sites 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 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, start, index, help, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter 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)
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 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 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 would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter 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 update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you select Keep this link private, 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 allows you to 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 the links you have created, go to your admin menu and select Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your browser. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To view additional fields in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links page)
Display/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Table of links – Hide or display screen options)
Editing Your Links
To edit links in the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your navigation menu to bring up your table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing your links)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, go to your WP navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your 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 title that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you want to remove, 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 Apply to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links notification)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to display links 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, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your web browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Add a links widget to your WordPress widget bar using drag and drop)
The Links widget provides various options. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This allows you to add and display a number of different link sections sorted by categories throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Display links 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 – Sort by options)
After setting up the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links should display on your website …
(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 detailed article about widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sorting, searching, and filtering functionality.
Sort Links
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Find Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(You can search your links with the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filtering 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 …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
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 use links extensively on your website, or if you intend to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to 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 allows you to publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links area, plus 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 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 how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
To learn more about how to insert links into your WordPress content, see this article:
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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