As you continue to learn more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or web 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 display a featured links section on your website using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WP Links Manager – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you’ve used an earlier version than 3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it.
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 admin area you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
Use this plugin to restore the Links 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 some time, 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 Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WordPress Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From the WP dashboard menu, select 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 results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will get added to the sidebar menu …
(Links menu)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select 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. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the 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 the default link category name to something that your visitors can understand. 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 …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing the link category)
Change 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 Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Resources’ etc).
Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process and add as many new link categories as your site requires.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can start adding your links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, click on Links > Add New in your WP dashboard menu …
(WP Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section is where you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Addressand Description fields)
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: What you type in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit of your link category. 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
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already set up, 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 how the link should open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new window will open up in their browser to display the content for that link.
- _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. 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))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Liam Anderson 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 of your links will still work. 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 the relationship 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, start, help, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add an 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 can be displayed next to the link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
- Rating: Add a rating score to the link if you would like 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 have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting these (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, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen. The Links table displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To display additional fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Display/hide fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Links page)
Editing Your Link Information
To modify links, go to the dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing link information)
Change your link …
(Edit Link screen)
After 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 everything correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove a link, choose Links > All Links in your WP navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check boxes next to individual items that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pull-down menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links 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 make links display on your website.
Using The Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the active widget areas and drop it wherever you want the links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized area)
The Links widget provides various configurable options. You can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you create and display specific link sections on your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Display a list of links for a specific category …
(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 settings – Sorting options)
After setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will become visible on your 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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on using widgets. Go here to learn more:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, search, and filter functionality.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort your links)
Finding Links Function
You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(Search links function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter your links by link categories)
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 screen)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, 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 links.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin gives you the ability to output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your website that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, 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 be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Go here to learn more this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress sidebar.
We have also written a detailed article on how to easily add HTML links to WordPress posts here:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)