As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external sites or pages displayed 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 add hyperlinks to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Links Manager displayed in the menu until the release of WordPress version 3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you were using the Links feature in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when your WP installation updates to a newer version. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your site is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not be displayed on your dashboard menu.
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 displayed when you log into your WordPress admin area, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
Use this plugin to display the default Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to restore the hidden feature. When we last 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 Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin on your site, follow these instructions:
From your WordPress administration menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – 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 installing it …
After activation, WordPress will add a ‘Links’ section to your navigation menu …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before adding links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the admin menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of the link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
When done, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
The link category will display in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
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 the Links section will automatically display under 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 category name 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 the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process and add as many 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, go to the main admin menu and choose Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of the link category. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target fields)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add 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 where you want your link to open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a new browser window will open up to display the content for that link. This allows your visitors to see the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit 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. 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 – lets you define your relationship with 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 ignore this section and your links will work just fine. 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 defines a 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, help, start, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit 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 link settings – Add New Link page)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Lets you 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 link’s RSS feed will be displayed next to your links.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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 into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not essential.
When you are done 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 checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain times and hide them afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all your links, select Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your browser. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view additional fields in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Links screen – Show/hide screen options)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the main navigation menu to bring up your links page …
(Links – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing link information)
Change the link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done 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 its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link title that you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the check box next to each item that you want 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’ drop-down menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links message)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your website.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ page.
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 the widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress widget bar)
The Links widget includes various settings. You can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This lets you create and feature specific several link categories on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
When you have finished setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links should display on your site …
(An example of how links can be displayed on your site’s 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 configuring widgets here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, filtering, and sorting functionality.
Sort Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse 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
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(Searching your links)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filtering links by 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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter 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 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer links.
Link Library
(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library gives you the ability to output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site that contains all the link categories in your Links area, plus all links defined for 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 link collection that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more this WordPress plugin, visit the plugin website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other sites in WordPress.
Go here if you want to learn more creating hyperlinks in WordPress posts:
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