As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other websites or pages that display on your sidebar menu 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 links to a widgetized theme.

Prior to the release of WP version 3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new installations …

Before …

(The Link Manager feature was part of the menu until the release of WP v3.5)

After …

(Post v.3.5 – no WP Links feature)

If your website or blog had the Link Manager installed, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not be displayed 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 Link Manager is not visible when you log into your WP dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description

Use this plugin to display the built-in Links feature on your dashboard, 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 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 one 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/

Plugin Description

This plugin recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

How To Install Link Manager

To install the Link Manager plugin, do the following:

From the WP dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then 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 it has been installed …

After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section on the WP sidebar menu screen …

(WordPress links menu section)

Plugin Setup

Before you start adding any new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to the link category you have already created.

Link Categories

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

(WordPress Links – Link Categories)

This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ page.

Type in information into the following fields:

• Name: What you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug is the web address bit of your link category name. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description.

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

(Link Categories)

The category details will be added to the list …

(Link Categories area)

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

(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)

You may want to change this to something that your visitors can relate to. This will not only make 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 ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)

To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Editing the link category name)

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

(Quick Edit)

In our example, we’ve replaced the category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

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

(Link category description)

Enter your link category description field and click Update …

(Edit Link Category area)

Repeat this process and add as many new link categories as your site needs.

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

Adding New Links

To add a new link, go to the main navigation menu and choose Links > Add New …

(WP Links Menu – Add New)

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

(Add New Link page)

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

(Links – 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 Addressand Description section)

Type in the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug is the URL part 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.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for the new link …

(Categories & Target area)

In the Categories section, select a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category link.

Also, 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 visitors click on it:

• _blank means that a new, separate window will open up in their browser to display the content for that link. Your visitor can access the information without leaving your site
• _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your web 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 …

(Add New Link page – Link Relationship (XFN) fields)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Hugo Jones and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all 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, enter nofollow into this field.

To learn more about XFN, visit this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields blank unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced fields – Add New Link screen)

The Advanced link settings section contains 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 RSS feed associated with the link will be displayed next to the links.
• Notes: Add notes about the link in this section for your own internal reference.
• Rating: You can 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.

When you are done adding information about your link, click on Add Link to update your link settings …

(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)

Note: If you select Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …

(Make links private by checking the box)

Making links private allows you to add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain periods and hide them when they are no longer required) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view all your links, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …

(WP Links Menu – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your browser. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Table of links)

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

(Screen Options – List of links)

Show/hide information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …

(Show/hide – Table of links)

How To Edit Links

To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to your admin menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …

(Links – All Links)

Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …

(Editing your links)

Edit your link details …

(Edit Link page)

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

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

(Update Link button)

Removing Your Links

To remove links from the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ table.

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

To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link title you want removed and click Delete …

(Delete your links)

To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check boxes next to individual items that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the main check box 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 …

(Bulk-delete links)

The links you have selected will be deleted …

(links deleted notification)

Using The Plugin

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 site.

Links Widget

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the main navigation menu …

(Appearance – Widgets)

This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ page.

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

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget sections and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …

(Adding a links widget to a widgetized menu)

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

(Link widget - configurable options)

You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you create and feature link lists sorted by categories throughout your site …

(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

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

(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget options – Sort by options)

When you have finished configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should display on your sidebar menu …

(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 using widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets. Go here to learn more about this:

• Configuring WordPress Widgets On Your Blog Sidebar

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sort, search, and filter functions.

Sort Links Function

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

(Sorting your links)

Finding Links Function

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

(Searching your links)

Filtering Your Links

You can filter links by link categories …

(Filter links by categories)

You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to find link categories, or click on the links in the ‘Links’ column …

(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)

This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …

(Links filtered by category)

Links – Additional Options

If you plan to add lots of links to your site, or if you want to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to 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

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

(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)

This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your web site that contains all 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 of your links that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.

Go here for more information about the benefits of using this great plugin:

• Link Library Plugin For WordPress

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to WordPress.

We have written a comprehensive article about creating HTML hyperlinks in your WordPress posts and pages. If you would like to know more about this here:

• Using The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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