As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or blogs displayed 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.”

You can manage a blogroll using the Links menu in your WP Dashboard. These links will then display on your website if you have added the Links widget.

Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …

Before …

(WP Links Manager – pre v3.5)

After …

(Links – no longer shown in WordPress after WP v 3.5)

If you have used an earlier version than v 3.5 and updated your installation, the Link Manager would have been 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 you can’t see a Links item on your main menu when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

This plugin restores the Link Manager, 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 template code to WordPress 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 this plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links Plugin)

Plugin URL

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

Description

This plugin recreates the same concept as the built-in WordPress Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

How To Install The Plugin

To install the Link Manager plugin, do the following:

From your WP admin menu, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins – Add New)

Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then 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 you have activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ section is added to your admin menu …

(Links menu section)

Setting Up Link Manager

Before adding links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a new link category, go to the dashboard menu and choose Links > Link Categories …

(Links – Link Categories)

This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.

Enter information into the following sections:

• Name: What you enter in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug shows up in the web address 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. (Optional)

When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …

(Link Categories area)

The new category will be added to the list …

(Link Categories)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category for a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …

(Default link category)

You may want to change this to something that your visitors can understand. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be listed under the new category name …

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

To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Quick Edit)

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

(Edit the default link category)

In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …

(You can add/edit your category description)

Enter your link category description field and click Update …

(Edit Link Category area)

Repeat this process and add as many link categories as your site needs.

Once you have set up your link categories, you can add new links.

How To Add New Links

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

(Links Menu – Add New)

This takes you to the ‘Add New Link’ page …

(Add New Link screen)

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

(Links page – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into a number of sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter details about your link in this section …

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

Enter the following information:

• Name: Whatever you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
• 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. (Optional)

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Categories & Target fields – Add New Link)

In the Categories section, select a link category you have 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 how the link should open when visitors click on it:

• _blank means that a separate web browser window will open up to display the information 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 browser window instead.
• _top opens links at the top level of the frame system if you’re using frames. Don’t worry about this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.

Link Relationship XFN

This section provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Diya Jenkins and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all of your links will still work. Defining relationships with XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some sites and search engines that use this information.

rel – This field specifies 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, type nofollow into this field. Separate multiple ‘rel’ attributes using spaces.

To learn more about XFN, visit this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

(Advanced area – Add New Link screen)

The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:

• Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is located 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 links.
• Notes: This section lets you add notes 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, as these are not required.

When you have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link to update your link settings …

(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)

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

(Private link checkbox)

Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have added, select Links > All Links in your WP admin menu …

(Links – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your web browser. The Links screen displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …

(Links screen)

Tip: To display or hide information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen Options – List of links)

Display/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …

(Show/hide links)

How To Edit Links

To edit links in the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard menu to bring up your links page …

(Links – All Links)

Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …

(Editing links)

Change the link fields …

(Edit Link page)

After editing the link, you can:

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

(Update Link button)

How To Delete Your Links

To delete a link from the Link Manager, go to the WP dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …

(Links Menu – 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 links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link title that you want removed and click on Delete …

(Deleting links)

To delete multiple links, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Delete multiple links)

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

(Links: bulk-deletion function)

The links you have selected will be removed …

(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 display your links on your website or blog.

Using The Links Widget

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your admin menu …

(Appearance Menu – Widgets)

The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your web browser.

You will notice 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 and drop it wherever you want the links to show up …

(Add a links widget to your WordPress widget bar)

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

(Link widget - configurable settings)

You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and display different link lists on your site …

(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)

Select a link category to display specific links …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …

(Link widget settings – Sorting options)

Once you are done setting up your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links will now display on your sidebar menu …

(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 on widgets. You can learn more about this here:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To The Website

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filtering, sorting, and searching features.

Sorting Links Function

To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sort links function)

Finding Links Function

Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …

(You can easily search links with the search function)

Filter Links Function

You can filter links by link category …

(Filter your links by categories)

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 links in the ‘Links’ column …

(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)

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 a lot of links to your site, or if you would like to add a ‘Links’ page 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)

Download Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

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

(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)

This plugin can be used to create a page on your website that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus all links listed in 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 for your links that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.

Visit the plugin website for more information about the benefits of using this plugin:

• Link Library Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.

We have written a detailed article on creating HTML hyperlinks in WordPress posts & pages. To learn more, go here:

• Using The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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