As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other websites 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.”
The Links feature lets you easily add and manage hyperlinks to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature – included in the menu until the release of WP v3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would be 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 the Links item is not visible when you log into your WP backend, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin 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 your installation in order 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 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)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From your WP admin menu, select 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 results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
Once the plugin is activated, the ‘Links’ functionality is restored to the WP admin menu …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before adding any new links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your admin menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL bit of your 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.
Click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
The category details will display in the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this default WordPress 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 your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the default link category)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable category 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 item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat the above process and add as many link categories as your site requires.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, select Links > Add New in the admin menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Address, Description – Add New Link)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type here is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO friendly URL of the link category. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target section – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify how the link should open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that a new browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then just ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link screen)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Noah Jones and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and your links will work just fine. 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 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave the fields in this section blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced area – Add New Link)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:
- Image Address: 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 your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed will display 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick 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 a link private allows you to add a link and then toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all your links, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will display in your browser. The Links screen displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view or hide columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Hide or show – List of links)
Editing Your Links
To edit links in the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your links screen …
(WP Links – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your links)
Make changes to the link …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check 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 …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, go to the main admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will display in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all your links.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check box next to every link that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(Link deletion message)
Using The Plugin
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 your links on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load 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 it to one of your widget sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area)
The Links widget includes various configurable settings. You can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget options)
You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you create and display specific several links throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
After setting up your links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should show up immediately on your sidebar …
(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 help with widgets? If you want to learn more about widgets, refer to this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with searching, filtering, and sorting functionality.
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 black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort links)
Find Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find links)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filtering links by link category)
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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
This displays a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website or blog, or if you want 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 your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin gives you the ability to output a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, 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 links so that your site users can be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to your WordPress site.
We have written a comprehensive article on adding hyperlinks into WordPress. Go here to learn more:
***
"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)