As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar menu is sometimes 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 links section on your website using the WordPress Link Manager plugin.
Before the release of v3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature – included in the admin menu until the release of WordPress v 3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)
If you have had an earlier version than v 3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve previously used it.
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 Manager section 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 blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
You can use this plugin to display the default Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WordPress dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on 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 you have activated the plugin, WordPress will add a ‘Links’ section to the WP dashboard menu area …
(WordPress links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the dashboard menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(WP Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your web browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL part of your link category name. 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)
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories page)
The category details will now show in the list …
(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 readers. 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 …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the default link category)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Resources’ etc).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category 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.
After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To create a new link, choose Links > Add New in your navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address, Description section – Add New Link)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of your 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 link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where 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 for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit your site and a new site 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then just ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Milo Anderson and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and your links will still work. Defining relationships with XFN makes the links defined on your site 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, enter nofollow into this field. Separate multiple ‘rel’ attributes with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
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 are as follows:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 will be displayed 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 would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information into 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 tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them when not required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all your links, select Links > All Links in the WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your browser. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view or hide information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Display/hide fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Hide or show – Table of links)
Editing Link Information
To modify a link in the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu to bring up the table of links …
(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)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save 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 link table if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your WP dashboard menu …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all of your links.
To delete individual links, hover over the link title that you want removed and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkbox next to every item that you would like to delete, 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 remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
Your selected links will be deleted …
(Link deletion notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to make links display on your website or blog.
Using The 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 navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
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 the widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like your links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area using drag & drop)
The Links widget offers a number of configurable settings. You can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget options)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and display lists of links on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(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 settings – Sorting options)
Once you are done setting up your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will display on your sidebar menu …
(An example of how 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 help with widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about configuring widgets. For more info, see this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filtering, searching, and sorting features.
Sorting Links Function
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 …
(You can sort links)
Search Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(Finding links function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filter links by link categories)
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 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 link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your website or blog, 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 your links.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library gives you the ability to publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
This plugin creates a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, 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 for your links so that your site users can be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more this WordPress plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to external websites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a detailed article about how to insert links into your WordPress content. Go here to learn more:
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