As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar section 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 manage a set of links using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will then display on your sidebar or footer if you have added the Links widget.

Prior to the release of WordPress v3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After version 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …

Before …

(WordPress Links Manager Feature – pre v.3.5)

After …

(The Links Manager – no longer shown in WordPress after WP v.3.5)

If your blog had a previously active Links Manager section, then it will still be available when your site upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your site installation 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 you can’t see the Links Manager section 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 plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager)

Plugin Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

The Link Manager plugin displays the default Link Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.

Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to your installation 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 one 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

Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

Plugin Installation

To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these instructions:

In the WP dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins – Add New)

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

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

Activate the plugin …

After activating the plugin, the ‘Links’ functionality is restored to your navigation menu …

(WordPress links menu)

Setting Up The Plugin

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

Link Categories

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

(Links – Link Categories)

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

Type in the following information:

• Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your 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 done, click Add New Link Category to save …

(Link Categories)

Your link category will display in the list …

(Link Categories area)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding 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 readers. This not only makes 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 link category name to something your visitors will understand)

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 (remember to keep the slug in lowercase letters and replace all spaces with a hyphen), and click on the Update link Category button …

(Update Link Category)

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

Let’s add a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …

(Link category description)

Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update you’re done to save your settings …

(Edit Link Category page)

Repeat this process to add as many link categories as you need.

Once you have configured your link categories, you can start adding new links.

How To Add New Links

To create a new link, go to the admin menu and choose Links > Add New …

(Links – Add New)

The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your web browser …

(Add New Link screen)

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

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes a number of sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section is where you enter your link details …

(Name, Web Address, Description section)

Type in the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name here.
• Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the link category. Use only lowercase letters without 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

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

(Categories & Target area)

In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 where your link should open when clicked on:

• _blank means that a new window will open up in their browser to display the information associated with the link. Your visitor will be able to access the information without leaving your website
• _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new site 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 ignore this option.

Link Relationship XFN

This section provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) section)

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

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

To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields empty unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)

The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of your image 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 display next to the links.
• Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
• Rating: Add a rating score to the link if you want 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.

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

(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)

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

(Private link checkbox)

Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like a link to display during certain periods and hide it afterwards) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To see a list of all the links you have added, click on Links > All Links in the main admin menu …

(WP Links – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ table in your browser. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Links page)

Tip: To display additional information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …

(Links table – Screen Options)

Enable/disable fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …

(Show/hide links)

How To Edit Link Information

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

(Links – All Links)

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

(Editing links)

Make the changes you want to your link fields …

(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 make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link from your table of links …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

How To Delete Links

To remove links from the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …

(WordPress Links – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ page in your browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.

To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want removed and click on Delete …

(Delete links)

To delete links in bulk, either tick the check boxes next to individual links that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Deleting multiple links)

Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …

(Bulk-deletion of links)

Your links will be deleted …

(Deleted links notification)

Using The Plugin

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.

Links Widget

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

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

(WP Appearance – Widgets)

This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page 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 areas and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …

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

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

(Link widget - settings)

You can also add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This allows you to add and display links sorted by categories throughout your site …

(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

You can select a link category …

(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)

When you have finished configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links should appear on your website …

(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 more help with widgets? We have written a detailed article on adding widgets. Go here to learn more about this:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To The Blog

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, filtering, and sorting functionality.

Sort Links

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

(Sorting links)

Find Your Links

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

(You can find your links with the search function)

Filter Your Links

You can filter links by category …

(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 category 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 add lots of links to your website or blog, or if you want to add a page containing a list of links 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, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link Library Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

The Link Library plugin lets you output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links plus descriptions and notes …

(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)

This useful plugin creates a page on your web site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and all links defined for 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 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 how to add and manage links to external sites in your WordPress sidebar menu.

To learn more about how to create HTML hyperlinks in WordPress posts and pages, refer to this article:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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