As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar menu.
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 a links section to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature was part of the WordPress admin menu until the release of WordPress v 3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)
If your site had the Link Manager installed, then it will still be available when your WP installation upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not be 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 you can’t see a Links item on the main menu when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add this feature via a plugin. This tutorial will show you how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
Use this plugin to display the default Links feature on your dashboard, 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 your installation in order to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the plugin had not been updated for some time, 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 Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From the WP admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will show in your WP admin menu …
(Links menu)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding links. This way, you can assign any new links to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to your dashboard menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will load in your browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL bit of your link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories screen)
Your new category will now show in 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)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something that will make sense to site visitors. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name (remember to keep the slug in lowercase letters and replace all spaces with a hyphen), then click on Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update when you’re done …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, go to the dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links screen – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Whatever you enter here is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit 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.
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target area – Add New Link page)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create 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 you want your link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new web browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will leave your site and a new website or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens links 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Veer Silva and you link to his 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. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links 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 defines 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, index, start, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of where the image is located 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 the links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
- Rating: Add a rating score to the link if you want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, select Links > All Links in your dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The table of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view or hide information in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(List of links – Hide or display screen options)
How To Edit Link Information
To modify a link in the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in your dashboard menu to bring up the table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing links)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure 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 table of links if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, go to the dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all of your links at once.
To delete individual links, hover over the link title that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the checkbox next to each link that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
Your links will be deleted …
(Deleted links notice)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your website.
Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the dashboard menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like your links section to display …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized area)
The Links widget includes various configurable options. You can specify what information you want 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 feature various lists of links on your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Display links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link ID, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
Once you are done setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will display on your website …
(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? If you want to learn more about widgets, see this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using search, filter, and sort functionality.
Sorting 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 …
(You can easily sort links)
Searching 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 link category)
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 …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website, or if you would like 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 WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download 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 all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, 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 link collection that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to other websites and pages in WordPress.
Go here if you would like to learn more about inserting links into WordPress:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)