As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other websites or pages that display on your sidebar area 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.”

The Links Manager lets you add and manage external links to a widget-ready theme.

Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …

Before …

(WordPress Links Manager – pre v.3.5)

After …

(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager)

If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your site is new, then this function will remain hidden – 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 item is not displayed when you log into your WordPress admin area, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)

Download URL

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

Plugin Description

Use this plugin to display the Link Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code to WordPress 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 site’s 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 functionality.

Plugin Installation

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

From your WP dashboard menu, 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 …

Once the plugin is activated, a ‘Links’ item is added to the WP dashboard menu …

(Links menu)

Plugin Configuration

We recommend setting up 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 new link category, select Links > Link Categories in your WP admin menu …

(WordPress Links – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your 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.

Click Add New Link Category …

(Link Categories page)

The category details will now show in the table …

(Link Categories)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category name)

You may want to change this to something that your visitors can relate to. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under the new category name …

(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Quick Edit)

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

(Quick Edit)

Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Items’ etc).

Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …

(Link category description)

Enter your link category description field and click Update when finished …

(Edit Link Category page)

Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as you need.

Once you have configured your link categories, you can start adding your links.

How To Add Links

To create a new link, click on Links > Add New in the WP admin menu …

(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …

(Add New Link page)

You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …

(Links page – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes a number of sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section lets you enter details about your link …

(Add New Link – Name, Web Address& Description section)

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug displays in the SEO friendly URL of the link category. 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.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for the link …

(Categories & Target section)

In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add 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 how your link should open when clicked on by visitors:

• _blank means that a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link.
• _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 links at the top level of the frame system if you’re using frames. Don’t worry about 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 – Link Relationship (XFN) section)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Maisie Gould 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 all of your links will still work. 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 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, help, start, index, etc.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section of the Add New Link’ screen allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)

The Advanced section fields are as follows:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 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 would like 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 essential for links to work.

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

(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 …

(Make your links private)

Making links private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view a list of all the links you have added to the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in your admin menu …

(Links – All Links)

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

(List of links)

Tip: To show or hide information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …

(Links screen – Screen Options)

Display/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …

(Links table – Show/hide screen options)

Editing Link Information

To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to the dashboard navigation 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 item’s link details …

(Editing your links)

Edit 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 view your link and 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 …

(Update Link button)

Removing Your Links

To remove a link, go to your dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …

(WordPress Links – All Links)

This takes you to the ‘Links’ table.

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

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

(Delete links)

To delete links in bulk, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …

(Deleting multiple links)

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

(Bulk-deletion of links)

The links you have selected will be deleted …

(Deleted links notice)

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …

(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)

This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.

You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

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

(Drag and drop your links widget to add it to a widgetized area)

The Links widget provides a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget - options)

You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This allows you to create and feature specific a number of different link lists on your site …

(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)

You can select a link category …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget settings – Sort by options)

When you have finished setting up the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section should show up immediately on your website’s sidebar …

(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? If you want to learn more about using widgets, see this article:

• Adding Widgets To Your WordPress Sidebar Section

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sorting, searching, and filtering features.

Sorting Links

You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …

(You can sort links)

Find Links Function

You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ function …

(Searching your links)

Filtering Your Links

You can filter links by link category …

(Filtering your links by link category)

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 listed for a specific link category …

(Links filtered by category)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to add a lot of links to 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.

Link Library

(Link Library)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin lets you publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …

(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin documentation.)

Link Library creates a page on your site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, plus 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 of your links that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.

Visit this site to learn more this plugin:

• Link Library WP Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.

We have written a comprehensive article about adding HTML hyperlinks in WordPress posts and pages. For more details:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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