As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar section 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.”
You can display links on your sidebar or footer using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Manager – pre version 3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links Manager)
If you’ve used an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 and updated your installation, the Links Manager would be 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 you can’t see the Links Manager section 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 sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
Use this plugin to restore the default Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version 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. The last time we checked, this plugin had not been updated for a while, but it should still work fine. If you don’t want to use the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin 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/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WordPress dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installation …
After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ item in the dashboard menu area …
(WordPress links menu)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding new links. This way, you can assign new links to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the search-engine friendly URL of the link category name. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories page)
Your link category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name 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 …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
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 link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘XYZ Sites’ etc).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many different link categories as your site requires.
After you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add your links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the admin menu …
(WP Links – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address& Description – Add New Link screen)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of your link category name. Use lowercase letters only and do not include 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.
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Next, 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 clicked on:
- _blank means that a new, separate window will open up in their browser to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Mia Silva and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all of your links will still work. Defining relationships with 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 a 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you specify 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) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced section)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- Image Address: Lets you 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 be displayed next to your link.
- 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).
Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not essential for links to work.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want your link to display during certain periods and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see a list of all the links you have created, go to the WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Show/hide fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Hide or display – Links table)
Editing Your Links
To modify links, go to the navigation menu and select Links > All Links to bring up your links screen …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing link information)
Edit your link fields …
(Edit Link page)
After 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 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 if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to the dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all links at once.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the checkboxes next to individual items that you want to delete, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links will be removed …
(links deleted notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display 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 the main dashboard menu …
(Appearance – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your widget sections 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 provides a number of options. You can specify what information you would like 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 create and display several links throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category to display links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
When you have finished setting up the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should display on your website’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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about adding widgets. Go here to learn more:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filtering, searching, and sorting features.
Sorting Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links function)
Find Links
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(Finding links)
Filtering Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter links by link category)
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 …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your site, or if you want to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add links on your sidebar), then you may want to look at using a plugin that can help you administer links.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to display a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library creates a page on your website that contains all 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 for your links so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Go here to learn more this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to WordPress.
To learn more about inserting HTML links into WordPress, refer to this article:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)