As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other websites or web pages that display on your sidebar 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 blog using the WordPress Link Manager plugin.
Before the release of WP v 3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager displayed in the admin menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)
After …
(Links – excluded from the WordPress dashboard menu after WordPress v.3.5)
If you have had an earlier version than v3.5 installed and updated your installation, 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 become invisible – you won’t 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 the Links menu section is not visible when you log into your WP backend, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin restores the default Links menu on your dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing 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 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/
Plugin Description
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WP administration area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – 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 screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
Once the plugin is activated, the ‘Links’ feature will be restored to your navigation menu area …
(Links menu)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the dashboard menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL part of your link category. 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. (Optional)
When finished, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories page)
The category details will display in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
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 your site will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the default link category)
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 ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Links’ etc).
Let’s create a link category description. 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 …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as you need.
After configuring your link categories, you can being adding your links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Address, Description area)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: What you enter here will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit 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 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
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category.
Next, 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 a visitor clicks on the link, a new web browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
- _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. 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 screen)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with John Cooper and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. XFN makes the links defined on your site 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 what relationship exists 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:
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 includes the following options:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add an image URL 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, 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 update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you select Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make your links private)
Making links private lets you add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, choose Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view additional fields in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Show/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Table of links)
How To Edit Link Information
To modify links in the Link Manager, go to the WP admin menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your 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 check that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To remove links, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all your links.
To delete links individually, hover over the link you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the checkboxes next to individual links that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
All the links you have selected will be removed …
(Deleted links message)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to display links on your website.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want the links to display …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget includes various configurable settings. You can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you create and display several links throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
Once you are done setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should become visible on your site’s sidebar …
(An example of how 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. To learn more about this go here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with search, sort, and filter functions.
Sort Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Search Links Function
You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(Searching links function)
Filter Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter your links by category)
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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website, or if you want 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and all links listed in these categories. 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 be made aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to WordPress.
To learn more about how to easily create HTML links in your WordPress posts & pages, refer to this article:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now