As you continue to discover more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or web 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 easily add links to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress v.3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WP Links Manager – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)
If your website the Links Manager was previously active on your website, then it will still be available when your WP installation updates to a newer version. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not display on your 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, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
The Link Manager plugin displays the default Link Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds 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 Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WordPress Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow the step-by-step instructions below:
In your WordPress admin area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
Once you have activated the plugin, WordPress will add a ‘Links’ section to the WP navigation menu …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before you start adding any new links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your WP navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Type in the following information:
- Name: What you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug displays in the URL of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
When done, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories screen)
The link category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories page)
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 not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name 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 …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update finished to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site requires.
After configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding New Links
To add a new link, go to your navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …
(WP Links – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section is where you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Address& Description area)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: What you enter in this field will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug appears in the search-engine friendly URL of the link category name. 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
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link page – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add 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 where the link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a separate browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave 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. Ignore this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) fields)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Ella O’Malley and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some sites 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, index, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Add New Link – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the image URL and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed can be displayed next to your link.
- 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 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 blank.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all your links, select Links > All Links in your WP dashboard menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your web browser. The Links table displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view additional options in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Links table – Screen Options)
Display/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Links table)
Editing Your Links
To modify a link, choose Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu to bring up your list of links …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing links)
Change the link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
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 in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your list …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To delete a link, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all of your links.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to each link that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The selected links 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, it’s time to learn how to display links on your site.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in your dashboard navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
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 in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to your sidebar)
The Links widget offers various settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This allows you to create and display various link sections throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display links for a specific 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 – Sorting options)
When you have finished configuring your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should show up immediately on your website …
(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 on using widgets here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, filtering, and sorting functionality.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort your links)
Search Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find your links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering your links by link categories)
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 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)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer links.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your website 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 for your link collection so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
Visit this site for more details about the benefits of using this useful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites in WordPress.
We have written a detailed article about creating hyperlinks in WordPress posts. For more info, see this article:
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