As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or pages displayed on your sidebar section.

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 blog using the Link Manager plugin.

Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new WordPress installations …

Before …

(WordPress Links Manager – pre version 3.5)

After …

(The Links Manager feature is no longer included in WordPress after WP v 3.5)

If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Link Manager would be removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – 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 Links feature is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)

Plugin URL

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

Description

You can use this plugin to display the default Links feature on your WordPress dashboard, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.

Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code 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 this plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links Plugin)

Plugin URL

https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/

Description

This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Installing Link Manager

To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:

From your WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …

Find the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ item in your WP dashboard menu …

(WordPress links management menu)

Plugin Configuration

We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding new links. This way, you can assign any new links to a link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, select Links > Link Categories in your dashboard navigation menu …

(Links – Link Categories)

This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.

Enter information into the following sections:

• Name: What you enter here is the link category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL bit of your link category. 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.

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

(Link Categories page)

Your new category will be added to the list …

(Link Categories screen)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category name)

You may want to change this to something that will make sense to 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 …

(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)

To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …

(Quick Edit)

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

(Edit the default link category)

In our example, the link category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …

(Link category description)

Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …

(Edit Link Category area)

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

After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can being adding your links.

How To Add Links

To add a new link, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Links > Add New …

(Links – Add New)

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

(Add New Link page)

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

(Links page – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

This section is where you enter your link details …

(Add New Link – Name, Web Addressand Description)

Type in the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name here.
• Slug: The slug displays in the URL of the link category. 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. (Optional)

Categories & Target

After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Categories & Target fields)

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

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 clicked on:

• _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link. Your visitor can see the information without leaving your site
• _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website 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) area – Add New Link)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Sophia Anderson and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, help, index, start, etc.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave the fields in this section blank unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)

The Advanced section fields include the following:

• Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the image URL and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
• RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed can display next to your link.
• Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
• Rating: 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 ignore this section.

When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …

(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)

Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Links section …

(Make your links private)

Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have created, choose Links > All Links in your WP admin menu …

(Links – All Links)

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

(List of links)

Tip: To view or hide columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …

(Links screen – Screen Options)

Enable/disable information on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …

(Show/hide – List of links)

How To Edit Link Information

To edit a link in the Link Manager, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the links screen …

(Links – All Links)

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

(Editing your links)

Make any changes you want to the link …

(Edit Link page)

After editing your link, you can:

• Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link from your table of links if it’s no longer required …

(Update Link button)

Deleting Your Links

To delete links, go to the main admin menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all of your links at once.

To delete links individually, hover over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …

(Delete your links)

To delete multiple links, either tick the checkboxes 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 …

(Delete multiple links)

Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …

(Bulk-deletion of links)

Your links will be removed …

(links deleted notice)

Plugin Usage

Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display links on your site.

Using The Links Widget

Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.

To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your navigation menu …

(Appearance Menu – Widgets)

This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.

You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget bars and drop it wherever you want your links to display …

(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)

The Links widget offers various configurable settings. You can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget settings)

You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you add and feature link lists throughout your site …

(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pull-down 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 – Sort by options)

After setting up the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will display on your sidebar …

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

• How To Add And Configure WordPress Widgets In Your Blog

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sorting, filtering, and searching features.

Sorting Your Links

To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(You can easily sort your links)

Search Your Links

You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …

(Finding your links)

Filter Links Function

You can filter links by category …

(Filtering your 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 …

(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)

This brings up a list of all links listed 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 ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer links.

Link Library

(Link Library)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library allows you to output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links together with descriptions and notes …

(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)

Link Library can be used to create 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. 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 for your link collection that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more about the Link Library plugin:

• Link Library – WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress site.

We have written a detailed article on adding HTML hyperlinks into WordPress. To learn more, go here:

• How To Use The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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