As you continue to discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar menu is often 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.”
The Links Manager lets you easily add external hyperlinks to your WordPress sidebar (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.
Prior to the release of WordPress v3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WP Links Manager – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than v.3.5 and updated your installation, the Link Manager would have been removed, unless you have 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 the Links menu section is not visible when you log into your WP backend, you can add it via a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the built-in Link Manager, 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 WordPress 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin, do the following:
From your WP administration menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activating the plugin, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ item on your WP dashboard menu …
(Links menu)
Setting Up The Plugin
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, select Links > Link Categories in your dashboard menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address 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.
When finished, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something better suited to your business. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically display under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process and add as many link categories as you need.
After you have finished configuring your link categories, you can being adding your links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, choose Links > Add New in the WP dashboard menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen 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
The first section lets you enter your link details …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you enter here is the link category name that will display on your site.
- 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 a link category description.
Categories & Target
After adding your link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target area – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
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 a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a separate window will open up in their browser to display the information associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will leave 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. 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 page – Link Relationship (XFN) fields)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Jasmine Gould and you link to her 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 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave the fields in this section empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced section – Add New Link)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add an image URL and make sure that the 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 links.
- 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 ignore this section.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you add links and then toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain times and hide them when not required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added, select Links > All Links in the main admin menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table. The Links table displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To show or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Your Links
To edit links, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Edit the link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to your dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you would like 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 the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The selected links will be deleted …
(Link deletion message)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display your links on your website or blog.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in the dashboard menu …
(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will display in your browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the active widget sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …
(Add a links widget to your sidebar using drag and drop)
The Links widget includes various settings. 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 also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and feature a number of link categories on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pulldown menu …
(Link widget settings – 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 configuring your links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will appear on your site’s 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 with widgets? To learn more about using widgets, see this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filtering, searching, and sorting functions.
Sort Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting your links)
Search Links Function
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(Finding links function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering your links by categories)
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 page)
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 a lot of links to your website or blog, 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.
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 all your link categories and a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your web 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.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress sidebar.
We have written a detailed article about how to easily insert HTML hyperlinks into your WordPress content. To learn more about this go here:
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