As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar menu is sometimes referred to 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 feature lets you add external links to a widget-ready theme.
Before the release of WP v.3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(Links – part of the WordPress menu until the release of WP v 3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have 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 you can’t see a Links item on the main menu when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add it via a plugin. This tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
Use this plugin to restore the default 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 template code 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
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 removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WP admin menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”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 activation, WordPress will add a ‘Links’ item to the dashboard menu area …
(WordPress links management menu section)
Setting Up The Plugin
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. 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 the admin menu …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: What you enter here will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the link category. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
When finished, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories screen)
Your new category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. 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 the default link category name to something that will make sense to visitors. 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 …
(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the default link category name)
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 the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Sponsors’ etc).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process and add as many new link categories as your site requires.
After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, select Links > Add New in your WP admin menu …
(Links – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ screen 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 has several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Address& Description)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of your link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category link.
Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their browser to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens the link 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 – Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Lucinda Jones and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all your links will work just fine. 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 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, enter nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, help, index, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Add New Link – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 RSS feed associated with the link can display 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 are done 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 select the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view a list of all your links, go to the WP dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The Links page displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view additional information in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Display/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(List of links – Hide or display screen options)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To modify links, click on Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu to bring up your links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing link information)
Make changes to your link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing the 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 everything correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Deleting Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard menu …
(WP Links – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check boxes next to individual items that you want to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Link deletion notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to display your links on your website or blog.
Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your web browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the active widget sections and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget offers various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - settings)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to create and feature different link sections on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should show up immediately on your website or blog’s sidebar …
(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 more help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sorting, searching, and filtering functions.
Sorting Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort your links)
Search Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(You can easily search your links with the search function)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filtering your links by categories)
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 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 category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots 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 a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer links.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 link collection that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
For more details about this plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites and pages in WordPress.
We have written a detailed article on inserting HTML links into WordPress posts and pages. Go here to learn more about this:
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