As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar area is often 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.”
You can display a featured links section on your blog using the Link Manager plugin.
Prior to the release of version 3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Menu – pre v3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager feature is no longer part of the admin menu after WP v3.5)
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 Manager feature, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not display 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 the Links Manager is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin restores the default Link Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the 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 template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
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.
Installing Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, follow these instructions:
From your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, WordPress will add a ‘Links’ section to the WP sidebar menu …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Configuration
Before you start adding any new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to the admin menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part 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 a link category description. (Optional)
Click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will display in the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your blog readers. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the default link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘XYZ Sites’ etc).
Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as your site requires.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can start adding your links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the main admin menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address, Description – Add New Link screen)
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target fields)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a new, separate browser window will open up to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your browser window instead.
- _top opens links 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) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Sophia Fields and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all of your links will still work. XFN makes your links more understandable to some websites 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 specifies 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced section)
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 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 be displayed next to your link.
- 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 into 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 the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you select Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private allows you to add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table. The Links table displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To display additional columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – List of links)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Table of links)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To modify links in the Link Manager, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the links page …
(WP Links – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing links)
Edit your link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To delete a link, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all your links at once.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you want to remove, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The selected links will be deleted …
(Deleted links notice)
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.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your active widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides various settings. You can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This allows you to add and feature specific link sections on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display a specific list of items …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
When you have finished configuring your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section will display on your website’s sidebar menu …
(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 using widgets? Go here for a detailed article on using widgets:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sorting, filtering, and searching features.
Sorting Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links function)
Search Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find links function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering your links by categories)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering 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 use links extensively on your website, 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, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
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 notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)
This plugin creates a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links area, and 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 benefits of using this powerful plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to other sites in WordPress.
If you want to learn more about inserting HTML links into WordPress posts, refer to 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