As you continue to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar area 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 add a blogroll using the Links menu in your WordPress Dashboard. These links will then display on your website if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature – part of the admin menu until the release of WP v3.5)
After …
(Links is no longer part of the WordPress menu after WordPress version 3.5)
If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Link Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not display 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 the Link Manager is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial shows you how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin displays the Links menu on your dashboard, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WordPress admin menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After activation, the ‘Links’ function is restored to the WP dashboard menu …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding new links. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign your link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(WP Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO 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)
When finished, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories)
The category details will display in the list …
(Link Categories area)
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 better suited to your business. This will not only make 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 ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Replace 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, the category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as your site requires.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, click on Links > Add New in the main dashboard menu …
(WP Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links page …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address, Description area)
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part 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 your link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target section)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that a new browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link. This lets your visitors access the link information without leaving your page
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new website or page will load in your browser window instead.
- _top opens links 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) section – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Anna Larsson 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 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 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave the fields in this section empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: Lets you 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 RSS feed associated with the link can be displayed next to your links.
- 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not essential for links to work.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain periods and hide them afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added, go to the navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table. The Links table displays a list of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display or hide fields in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Links screen – Screen Options)
Display/hide fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Links screen – Hide or show screen options)
How To Edit Link Information
To modify links, go to your navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the links page …
(Links – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing link information)
Change your link details …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check box next to every item that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Deleted links notification)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to make links display on your website.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load in your browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget bars in the Widgets page 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 includes a number of options. 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 menu …
(Link widget options)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This allows you to add and display various lists of links throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category …
(Link widget options – 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)
After setting up your links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will display on your website’s sidebar …
(Links can be displayed on a 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 configuring widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with searching, sorting, and filtering functionality.
Sorting Links Function
To sort links, hover your cursor 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 links)
Find Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Search links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering links by link category)
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 …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up 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 would like 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and 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 of your links so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to your WordPress site.
We have written a detailed article on how to insert HTML hyperlinks into your WordPress content. For more details, go here:
***
"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now