As you continue to learn more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites 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.”

You can manage a set of links using the Links menu in your WP Dashboard. These links will then display on your blog if you have added the Links widget.

Before the release of v3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …

Before …

(WP Links Manager – pre version 3.5)

After …

(The Link Manager feature – no longer displayed in WordPress after WP version 3.5)

If your blog had a previously active Link Manager section, then it will still be available when your installation updates to a newer version. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will become invisible – you will not see it on the dashboard 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 feature is not visible when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial will show you how to add and manage links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

Use this plugin to restore the Link Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.

Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to your installation 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 this 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/

Description

Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

How To Install The Plugin

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

In the WP dashboard menu, 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 …

Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after installation …

After activation, a ‘Links’ item will be added to your navigation menu …

(Links menu)

Plugin Setup

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

Link Categories

To create a link category, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …

(WP Links – Link Categories)

This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ page.

Type in the following information:

• Name: What you type here will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
• Slug: The slug shows up 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 a link category description. (Optional)

after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button to save …

(Link Categories screen)

The category details will now show in the table …

(Link Categories)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …

(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)

You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your blog readers. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section 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 item and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Editing the link category)

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

(Editing the link category name)

In our example, the link category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

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

(You can add/edit your category description)

Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update you’re done to save your settings …

(Edit Link Category area)

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

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

How To Add New Links

To create a new link, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …

(Links Menu – Add New)

This loads the Add New Link’ page in your browser …

(Add New Link page)

You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of 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 is where you enter your link details …

(Name, Web Address, Description)

Type in the following information:

• Name: What you enter in this field will display as the link category name.
• Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL bit of the link category name. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse. (Optional)

Categories & Target

After adding your link details, select a Category and Target for your link …

(Add New Link – Categories & Target fields)

In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category link.

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

• _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new web browser window will open up to display the information for that link. Your visitor will be able to see the link information without leaving your site
• _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your 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 section provides some additional link functionality …

(Add New Link screen – Link Relationship (XFN))

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Jessica Fields and you link to her 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 work just fine. 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 the 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.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:

• 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 link settings)

The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:

• Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 link’s RSS feed can display next to your link.
• Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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).

Type in your information in the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.

When you have finished adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …

(Click on Add Link to save your new link)

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

(You can make links private by checking the box)

Making links private allows you to add links and then toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To see all the links you have added to the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu …

(Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ page will load in your browser. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Links page)

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

(Screen Options – Links screen)

Enable/disable fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …

(List of links – Show/hide screen options)

Editing Link Information

To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu to bring up your links table …

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …

(Editing link information)

Make changes to your link …

(Edit Link page)

After you’re done editing the link, you can:

• Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link if it’s no longer required …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

Removing Your Links

To delete links from the Link Manager, go to your WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ page.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all of your links at once.

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

(Delete your links)

To delete links in bulk, either click on the check box next to each link that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Delete multiple links)

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

(Links: bulk-deletion function)

The 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 display links on your site.

Links Widget

Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.

To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your navigation menu …

(Appearance Menu – Widgets)

This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.

You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget areas in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want your links section to display …

(Adding a links widget to your sidebar)

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

(Link widget options)

You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This allows you to add and feature specific link sections throughout your site …

(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget settings – Sorting options)

After configuring your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links will show up immediately on your site …

(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 help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about adding widgets. Go here to learn more:

• How To Add Widgets To WordPress

Links Manager – Additional Information

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

Sort Links

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

(Sorting your links)

Search Links

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

(Search links)

Filtering Links

You can filter links by categories …

(Filter your links by link 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 for a specific link category …

(Links filtered by link category)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, or if you intend 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 links.

Link Library

(Link library – WordPress Link Management Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin allows you to display a list of your link categories with a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …

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

This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links section, plus all links defined for 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 that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more about the Link Library plugin:

• Link Library WordPress Plugin

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

We have written a detailed article about how to easily create links in WordPress posts and pages. Go here to learn more about this:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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