As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or web pages 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.”
You can manage a set of links using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will display on your sidebar if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(Links appeared in the WordPress menu until the release of WordPress v.3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager – no longer shown in WordPress after WordPress v.3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Links 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 the Links item is not visible when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add it via a plugin. This tutorial will show you how to add and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
Use this plugin to display the Link Manager, even if you update 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 in order 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WP dashboard menu, go to 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 search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installation …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will be displayed on your admin menu screen …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up 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 navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL bit of your link category. Use only lowercase letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories)
The link category will display in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a 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 your blog readers. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the list 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 …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Sponsors’ etc).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update when finished …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site requires.
Once you have finished setting up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, click on Links > Add New in your WP dashboard menu …
(WP Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your web browser …
(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 …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Address& Description fields)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug displays 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 a link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link 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 you want the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your browser window instead.
- _top opens the link 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))
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 Jackson Silva 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 all your links will still work. 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 defines a relationship 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, index, start, help, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced fields)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following:
- 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 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).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like your link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The Links table displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To show or hide information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Links table)
How To Edit Links
To modify links, choose Links > All Links in your WP navigation menu to bring up your list of links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Change the link …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table of links if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all links at once.
To delete links individually, hover over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pull-down menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
All the links you have selected will be removed …
(Link deletion notification)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to display links on your site.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the dashboard menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget sections and drop it wherever you would like your links to display …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides a number of settings. For example, you can specify what information you want to display 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 and footer. This allows you to create and feature a number of link lists throughout your site …
(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 ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sort by options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your 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 comprehensive article on using widgets. Go here to learn more:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using search, filter, and sort functionality.
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 sort links)
Find Your Links
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(You can search your links with the search function)
Filtering Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filter links by link 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional 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 your links.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, plus 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 for your links so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
Go here to learn more this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to external websites in WordPress.
We have written a detailed article about creating HTML links in WordPress posts. If you would like to know more about this here:
***
"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum