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

WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other websites or web pages that display on your sidebar menu 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 link section 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 v.3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …

Before …

(The Links Manager feature – part of the menu until the release of WP v 3.5)

After …

(Post v3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)

If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you’ve 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 display 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 menu section is not visible when you log into your WP admin area, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)

Download URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin displays the built-in Links menu on your 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 code to your installation in order 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 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)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Installing Link Manager

To install the Link Manager plugin, do the following:

In the WP dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins – Add New)

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

Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after it has been installed …

After activation, a ‘Links’ section will show on your admin menu …

(Links menu)

Setting Up The Plugin

Before you start adding any new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to the link category you have already created.

Link Categories

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

(Links Menu – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your web browser.

Type in the following information:

• Name: Whatever you type in this field will display as the link category name.
• Slug: The slug appears in the web address of the link category name. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description.

after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category name …

(Link Categories)

The link category will display in the list …

(Link Categories page)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a new link, WordPress will assign 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 visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …

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

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

(Editing the link category name)

Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …

(Editing the default link category)

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

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

(Link category description)

Add your link category description field and click Update when finished …

(Edit Link Category screen)

Repeat the above process to add as many different link categories as you need.

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

Adding New Links

To add a new link, select Links > Add New in the main navigation menu …

(WP Links – Add New)

This loads the Add New Link’ page in your browser …

(Add New Link screen)

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

(Links – Add New Link button)

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

Name, Web Address & Description

This section lets you enter details about your link …

(Name, Web Addressand Description section – Add New Link screen)

Type in information into the following fields:

• Name: What you type here is the category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug is the URL part 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.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Categories & Target – Add New Link page)

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

• _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new, separate browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link.
• _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit 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 area provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link)

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

XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and your links will still work. Defining relationships with 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 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, start, index, help, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:

• 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 ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

(Advanced section)

The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add an image URL 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 will display next to the link.
• Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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 ignore this section.

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

(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)

Note: If you tick Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …

(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)

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

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To see all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …

(List of links)

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

(Screen Options – Links screen)

Display/hide information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …

(Show/hide links)

How To Edit Your Links

To modify a link in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu to bring up the table of links …

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

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

(Editing your links)

Change your link …

(Edit Link page)

After editing your link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to remove the link if you no longer require it …

(Update Link button)

Removing Links

To delete a link, select Links > All Links in the admin menu …

(Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ table will display in your web browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all your links.

To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove and click on Delete …

(Delete links)

To delete links in bulk, either click on the checkboxes next to individual links that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Delete multiple links)

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

(Bulk-deletion of links)

The selected links will be deleted …

(Deleted links 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 make links display on your site.

Links Widget

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

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

(Appearance – Widgets)

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

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

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …

(Add a links widget to a widgetized area)

The Links widget offers various configurable options. For example, you can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …

(Link widget settings)

You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This allows you to create and display specific link lists sorted by categories throughout your site …

(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)

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

(Link widget settings – 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)

When you have finished configuring your links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should become visible on your website …

(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? Go here to learn more about adding widgets:

• How To Use WordPress Widgets

Link Manager – Additional Information

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

Sorting Links Function

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 links)

Search Links Function

Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …

(Search links)

Filtering Links

You can filter links by categories …

(Filtering links by 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 …

(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)

This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …

(Links filtered by link category)

Links – Additional Options

If you plan to add a lot of links to your website, 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link Library WordPress Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library gives you the ability to publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …

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

Link Library can be used to create a page on your site containing 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 of your links so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more about Link Library:

• Link Library Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.

We have written a detailed article about how to insert hyperlinks into your WordPress posts. Go here to learn more:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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