As you continue to discover more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other websites or 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.”

The Links Manager lets you add external links to a widget-ready theme.

Prior to the release of WordPress version 3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress v 3.5, the Links Manager section was removed …

Before …

(Links – included in the dashboard menu until the release of WP version 3.5)

After …

(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)

If your site previously displayed Link Manager, then it will still be available when your installation upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not appear on your 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 dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager Plugin)

Download URL

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

Plugin Description

The Link Manager plugin restores the built-in Links Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. When we last 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 – WordPress Link Management Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description

This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

How To Install Link Manager

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

From the WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”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 installing it …

After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will show up on your WP dashboard menu …

(WordPress links menu section)

Plugin Configuration

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 link categories you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a new link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the WP dashboard menu …

(WP Links – Link Categories)

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

Type in the following information:

• Name: What you enter in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug shows up in the search-engine friendly URL of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)

Click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …

(Link Categories screen)

Your category details will now show in the table …

(Link Categories screen)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category for a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category name)

You may want to change this default WordPress link category name to something that will make sense to visitors. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …

(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

To change 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 (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 ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Links’ etc).

Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …

(Link category description)

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

(Edit Link Category page)

Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as you need.

After configuring your link categories, you can add your links.

Adding Links

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

(WP Links – Add New)

This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ page …

(Add New Link screen)

You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter your link details in this section …

(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description fields)

Enter information into the following fields:

• Name: Enter the category name here.
• 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 a link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name. (Optional)

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your link …

(Categories & Target)

In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add 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:

• _blank means that a new browser window will open up to display the content for that link. This allows your visitors to see the information without leaving your website
• _none means that when a visitor clicks on the 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 …

(Link Relationship (XFN))

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 Max Fields and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes the links defined on your site 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 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, type nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, help, start, etc.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

(Advanced section – Add New Link)

The Advanced link settings section includes the following:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of where the image is located 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 will 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 into the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.

When you have finished adding your new link information, click on Add Link to update your link settings …

(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 Blogroll section …

(Private link checkbox)

Making a link private lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view all your links, go to the admin menu and click on Links > All Links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

This takes you to the ‘Links’ table. The Links table displays a list of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …

(Links table)

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

(Screen Options – Table of links)

Show/hide fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …

(Show/hide – Links screen)

Editing Links

To edit links in the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu to bring up the list of links …

(WP Links – All Links)

Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …

(Editing your link information)

Make changes to your link details …

(Edit Link screen)

After you’re done 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 (your link will open in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link from your table of links if it’s no longer required …

(Update Link button)

Removing Your Links

To remove a link from the Link Manager, go to the admin menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.

To delete individual links, hover over the link you want removed 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 deleted, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Delete multiple links)

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

(Bulk-deletion of links)

The links you have selected will be deleted …

(links deleted message)

Plugin Usage

Now that you know how to set up 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

The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.

To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …

(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)

This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your web browser.

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 the widget areas and drop it wherever you want the links section to show up …

(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to your WordPress widget bar)

The Links widget includes various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget - configurable settings)

You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and feature several link categories on your site …

(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)

Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ drop-down menu …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …

(Link widget options – Sorting options)

After configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links will display on your site …

(An example of how 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 comprehensive article on widgets here:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To The Sidebar Menu

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sort, search, and filter functionality.

Sorting Links

You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(You can sort links)

Searching Links Function

Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …

(Searching your links)

Filter Links Function

You can filter links by category …

(Filter your 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 …

(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)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to add lots of links to your website, 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 output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus descriptions and notes …

(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)

This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your site containing 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 for your links so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more about this WordPress plugin, visit the plugin website:

• Link Library Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in WordPress.

We have also written a detailed article on inserting HTML links into WordPress posts here:

• How To Use The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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