As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar area.
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 easily add external links to your sidebar menu (e.g. a “Recommended Resources” section) using widgets.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature – part of the menu until the release of WP v.3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature is no longer included in the WordPress menu after WP v3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v3.5 installed and updated 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 menu section is not visible when you log into your WP admin area, you can add this feature via a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
Use this plugin to display the built-in Link Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code to WordPress 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 – Links Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From the WP administration 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 …
Locate the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ item on the navigation menu screen …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your dashboard menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO friendly URL of the link category. 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.
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will display in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this default link category name to something that your visitors can understand. 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 …
(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the link category)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
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 done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many link categories as you need.
After configuring your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, go to the WP admin menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Address, Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type here displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL part of the 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link page – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create 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 how you want the link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a new, separate window will open up in their web browser to display the information for that link. Your visitor will be able to access the information without leaving your page
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave 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 ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Harry Cooper 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 work just fine. 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, help, index, start, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced section – Add New Link page)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 can be displayed next to your link.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section for your own internal reference.
- Rating: You can add a rating score to the link if you want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want the link to display during certain times and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to your WP navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will display in your web browser. The Links page displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To display additional fields in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Show/hide fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Links table – Show/hide screen options)
Editing Links
To edit links, select Links > All Links in your WP dashboard menu to bring up the links table …
(Links – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing link information)
Make any changes you want to the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up your link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your list …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all your links.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the checkbox next to each item that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The links will be deleted …
(Link deletion notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want the links to display …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area using drag and drop)
The Links widget provides various configurable settings. You can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - options)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and display link sections throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pull-down menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sort by options)
After configuring your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will become visible on your 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 configuring widgets. To learn more, go here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with search, filter, and sort functions.
Sorting Links
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 …
(Sort 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 find your links with the search function)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter your links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to find 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)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website, or if you intend to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links.
Link Library
(Link library – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin gives you the ability to display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your site that contains all 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 of your link collection so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about the benefits of using this plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to your WordPress sidebar.
We have also created a detailed article on adding links in WordPress here:
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group