As you continue to learn more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites or pages that display 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 a links section on your blog using the WordPress Link Manager plugin.
Prior to the release of WP v 3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(The Links Manager feature – included in the menu until the release of WordPress version 3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature – no longer included in WordPress after WP v.3.5)
If you’ve used an earlier version than v.3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Link Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your website is new, then this function will become invisible – you will not see it displayed on your 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 can add it via a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
This plugin restores the built-in Links feature on your WordPress dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code to your installation in order to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the 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 one 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
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, do the following:
In your WP administration area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, 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’ section in the WP sidebar menu area …
(WordPress links menu)
Configuring Link Manager
Before you start adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign your link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type here displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL bit of your link category. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
The new category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can understand. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing the link category name)
Replace 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), and click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many link categories as your site needs.
Once you have finished setting up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
Adding New Links
To add a new link, go to your WP admin menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Add New Link screen – Name, Web Address, Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you type in this field will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit of the link category. 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 typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category link.
Also, 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 a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a separate browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link. This lets your visitors access the information without leaving your site
- _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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Kyle Fields and you link to his 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 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 specifies what relationship exists between the current document and the linked document. For example, if you don’t want search engines to follow your link, type nofollow into this field.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced area)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is stored 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 display 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 would like 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, as these fields are not essential for links to work.
When you have finished 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 tick the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like your link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to the main navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will load in your web browser. The Links table displays a list of all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To show or hide information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Display/hide information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Links page – Hide or display screen options)
Editing Your Links
To modify a link, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing link information)
Make changes to your link information …
(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 make sure that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all links at once.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check box next to each link that you want to delete, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
All the links you have selected will be removed …
(Link deletion message)
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 your links on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main admin menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will display in your web browser.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of the widget areas and drop it wherever you want the links section to show up …
(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to a widgetized area)
The Links widget provides a number of 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 also add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This lets you create and feature specific a number of different links on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
When you have finished setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should become visible 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 help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about adding widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, sorting, and filtering functions.
Sort Links
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort your links)
Find Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Searching your links)
Filtering Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering your links by link category)
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 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 site, or if you would like to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add links on your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links.
Link Library
(Link library – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin lets you output a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your site that contains all 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 links so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.
We have also written a comprehensive article about how to easily create HTML links in WordPress posts & pages here:
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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)