As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites or blogs that display on your sidebar.
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 feature lets you add and manage a links section to a widgetized theme.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Link Manager section was hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v.3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager)
If your site previously used this feature, then it will still be available when your WordPress installation upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your WordPress site installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not be displayed 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 you can’t see the Links feature when you log into your WordPress admin area 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 site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
Use this plugin to restore the built-in Links Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:
In the WordPress dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on 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 it has been installed …
Once the plugin has been activated, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section on the WP navigation menu screen …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the admin menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will load in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the link category name. It must all be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
When finished, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories screen)
The link category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category for a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can relate to. 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 assigned to the new category name …
(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as you need.
After setting up your link categories, you can start adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, click on Links > Add New in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(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 …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Addressand Description area – Add New Link screen)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of the link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
Next, 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 visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a separate web browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link. This lets your visitors see the information without leaving your website
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new site 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. Ignore 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 …
(Add New Link screen – Link Relationship (XFN) section)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Ananya O’Malley and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and your links will work just fine. 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, help, start, index, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to enter 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 link settings – Add New Link)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the image URL 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 the link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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).
Enter 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 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, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all your links, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your web browser. The Links page displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To view additional columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – List of links)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Link Information
To edit links, choose Links > All Links in the navigation menu to bring up the links page …
(Links – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Make the changes you want to the link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table of links if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your WP navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link title that you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check boxes 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)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pull-down menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The selected links will be removed …
(links deleted notification)
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.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see 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 your active widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want your links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized menu using drag and drop)
The Links widget offers a number of options. For example, you can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This allows you to create and feature several links sorted by categories on your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
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 the links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should display on your sidebar menu …
(An example of how 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 if you want to learn more configuring widgets:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with searching, sorting, and filtering functions.
Sorting Links Function
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 your links)
Find Links Function
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(Search your links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering links by categories)
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 …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to use links extensively on 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 links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your site containing all the link categories in your Links section, and all links defined for 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 additions to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to your WordPress sidebar.
We have written a detailed article about adding links to WordPress posts & pages. Go here to learn more:
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com