As you continue to discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other websites or web pages that display on your sidebar menu 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 a links section on your blog using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.

Prior to the release of WP v.3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Link Manager section was removed …

Before …

(The Links Manager – part of the admin menu until the release of WP version 3.5)

After …

(Post version 3.5 – no WP Links Manager)

If your website previously used this feature, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your site is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be displayed on your 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 your main menu when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add this feature via a plugin. This tutorial shows you how to add and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)

Plugin URL

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

Description Of Plugin

You can use this plugin to display the default Links feature on your dashboard, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.

Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template 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 Download URL

https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/

Plugin Description

Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

Installing The Plugin

To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:

In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins – Add New)

Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …

Find the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

After activation, a ‘Links’ section will get added to the sidebar menu …

(WordPress links menu section)

Setting Up The Plugin

Before adding new links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to a link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, choose Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard navigation menu …

(WP Links Menu – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your browser.

Type in the following information:

• Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug appears in the SEO friendly URL of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)

Click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …

(Link Categories)

The category details will now show in the list …

(Link Categories area)

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

(we recommend changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)

To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link 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 category ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).

Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …

(Link category description)

Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update when finished …

(Edit Link Category screen)

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

Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can start adding new links.

Adding Links

To create a new link, select Links > Add New in your WP dashboard menu …

(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)

You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ page …

(Add New Link page)

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

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes several sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

This section is where you enter your link details …

(Add New Link – Name, Web Addressand Description fields)

Type in information into the following sections:

• Name: Whatever you enter here displays as the link category name.
• Slug: The slug displays in the search-engine 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 a link category description. (Optional)

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for the link …

(Categories & Target section – Add New Link)

In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already added, 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 where your link should open when clicked on:

• _blank means that a new window will open up in their web browser to display the content for that link.
• _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 links 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 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 Jacob Silva and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and 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 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, help, index, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.

To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

(Advanced fields)

The Advanced section fields include the following:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the image URL and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
• RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed can display next to the links.
• Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
• Rating: 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 essential for links to work.

When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …

(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)

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

(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)

Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain times and hide them when not required) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view a list of all the links you have added, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …

(WP Links Menu – All Links)

You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Table of links)

Tip: To view or hide columns in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …

(Screen Options – Table of links)

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

(List of links – Show/hide screen options)

How To Edit Your Links

To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to the main admin menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your links table …

(Links Menu – All Links)

Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …

(Editing your link information)

Change the link information …

(Edit Link screen)

After editing your link, you can:

• Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to see your link and make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link …

(Update Link button)

How To Delete Links

To delete a link, click on Links > All Links in your dashboard navigation menu …

(Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ page will load 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 that you want removed and click Delete …

(Deleting your links)

To delete multiple links, either tick the checkboxes next to individual links that you want to remove, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Delete multiple links)

Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …

(Bulk-delete links)

Your selected links will be removed …

(Deleted links notification)

Using The Plugin

Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to display links on your website.

Using The Links Widget

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP admin menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …

(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)

This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen 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 widget sections and drop it wherever you want the links to show up …

(Add 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 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 several link lists sorted by categories on your site …

(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

Display a list of items for a specific category …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …

(Link widget options – Sort by options)

When you have finished configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A 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 with widgets? We have written a detailed article about configuring widgets. Go here to learn more:

• How To Add And Configure Widgets In The WordPress Sidebar

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with filtering, sorting, and searching functionality.

Sorting Links Function

To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sorting your links)

Searching Your Links

Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …

(Search links function)

Filter Links

You can filter links by category …

(Filtering links by categories)

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 …

(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 category)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, or if you would like to add a page containing a list of links 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 your links, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link Library)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library lets you publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links with notes and descriptions …

(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)

Link Library creates a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, 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 links that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.

Visit this site to learn more this plugin:

• Link Library Plugin For WordPress

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

We have written a detailed article on how to insert HTML links into your WordPress posts. To learn more about this go here:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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