As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other websites or pages that display on your sidebar section.

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 feature lets you add and manage hyperlinks to a widget-ready theme.

Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …

Before …

(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v3.5)

After …

(The Links Manager feature – excluded from WordPress after WP v3.5)

If you have had an earlier version than v.3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be 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 Links feature when you log into your WP dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager)

Plugin Download URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager

Plugin Description

This plugin displays the default Link Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of template 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 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 Download 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 feature.

Plugin Installation

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

From your WordPress 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 …

Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after installation …

After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will be added to the WP sidebar menu area …

(Links management menu section)

Plugin Setup

We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding new links. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign the link to the link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your navigation menu …

(WP Links – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL bit 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.

Click Add New Link Category …

(Link Categories screen)

Your link category will now show in the table …

(Link Categories)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category for a new 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 visitors. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …

(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)

To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Quick Edit)

Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …

(Update Link Category)

In our example, we’ve replaced the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

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 …

(Edit Link Category page)

Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.

Once you have finished setting up your link categories, you can start adding your links.

How To Add New Links

To add a new link, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Links > Add New …

(Links Menu – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …

(Add New Link page)

You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …

(Links – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter your link details in this section …

(Name, Web Address, Description fields)

Type in the following information:

• Name: Whatever you type here displays as the link category name.
• Slug: The slug displays in the SEO friendly URL of the link category name. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description.

Categories & Target

After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Add New Link page – Categories & Target section)

In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category link.

Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how you want the link to open when clicked on by visitors:

• _blank means that a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link. This allows your visitors to access the link information without leaving your page
• _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit your site and a new site 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. Ignore this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.

Link Relationship XFN

This area 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 have a professional relationship with Adam O’Malley and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all 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 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, start, help, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings – Add New Link screen)

The Advanced link settings section contains the following:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of where the image is stored 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 display next to your link.
• Notes: This section lets you add notes 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 into the above fields or just leave this section blank.

When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …

(Click on Add Link to save your new link)

Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …

(Make links private by checking the box)

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 a list of all the links you have created, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your browser. The list of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Links page)

Tip: To display additional columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …

(List of links – Screen Options)

Show/hide information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …

(Links page – Hide or display screen options)

How To Edit Your Link Information

To edit links, go to the navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your list of links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …

(Editing your link information)

Edit the link …

(Edit Link screen)

After 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 your link’s URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
• Click Delete to remove the link …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

Deleting Links

To remove links, go to the main dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.

To delete links individually, hover over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …

(Deleting links)

To delete multiple links, either click on the checkbox next to every item that you want to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box 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-delete function)

All the links you have selected will be removed …

(links deleted notice)

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 make links display on your website or blog.

Links Widget

The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.

To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …

(Appearance Menu – Widgets)

The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your web browser.

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 sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like your links section to display …

(Drag & drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)

The Links widget includes various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget - settings)

You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and feature link lists on your site …

(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)

You can select a link category …

(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 setting up your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should show on your sidebar …

(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 with widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about configuring widgets here:

• Adding And Configuring WordPress Widgets In Your Website

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, filter, and search functionality.

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 triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sorting links)

Finding Your Links

You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …

(Searching links function)

Filtering Links Function

You can filter links by categories …

(Filter links by link category)

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 links in the ‘Links’ column …

(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)

This brings up a list of all links listed under a specific link category …

(Links filtered by category)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to add lots of links to your site, or if you would like 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 Download URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/

Plugin Description

The Link Library plugin lets you display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …

(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin website.)

This plugin creates a page on your website that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, and 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 of your link collection so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.

Visit the plugin site for more information about using this plugin:

• Link Library Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites in your WordPress sidebar menu.

We have written a detailed article on adding links in WordPress posts & pages. To learn more about this go here:

• How To Use The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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