As you continue to discover more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites or 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.”

The Links feature lets you easily add and manage external hyperlinks to a widgetized theme.

Before the release of WordPress v.3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new WordPress installations …

Before …

(The Link Manager – part of the WordPress dashboard menu until the release of WordPress v 3.5)

After …

(The Links Manager feature – no longer displayed in WordPress after WordPress v3.5)

If you’ve used an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 and updated your installation, the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not appear on your 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 visible when you log into your WordPress admin area, you can add it via a plugin. This tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

The Link Manager plugin displays the default Links feature on your dashboard, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of 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 template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Installing Link Manager

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

In the WP dashboard area, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”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 installing it …

After activating the plugin, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ section on your sidebar menu …

(Links management menu)

Setting Up The Plugin

We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard navigation menu …

(Links – Link Categories)

You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.

Enter the following information:

• Name: What you type here displays as the link category name.
• Slug: The slug is the web address part 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 your link category description. (Optional)

Click the Add New Link Category button …

(Link Categories)

The category details will be added to the list …

(Link Categories)

Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)

You may want to change this to something that will make sense to readers. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be listed under the new category name …

(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)

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

(Edit the default link category name)

Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name (remember to keep the slug in lowercase letters and replace all spaces with a hyphen), then click on the Update link Category button …

(Editing the default link category)

Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Items’ etc).

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

(You can add/edit your category description)

Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update done to save your settings …

(Edit Link Category page)

Repeat the above process and add as many new link categories as your site requires.

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

How To Add New Links

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

(WP Links Menu – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your browser …

(Add New Link page)

You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …

(Links – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page has several sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter details about your link in this section …

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

Enter information into the following fields:

• Name: Whatever you type here is the link category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug appears 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Categories & Target)

In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category link.

Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where the link should open when visitors click on it:

• _blank means that a new, separate browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
• _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will leave your site and a new site 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 area provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN))

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Samantha 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 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 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ attributes using spaces.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

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

(Advanced link settings)

The Advanced section fields are as follows:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is stored and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
• RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link can display 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 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 ignore this section.

When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …

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

Note: If you tick Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …

(Make your links private)

Making a link private allows you to toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want your link to display during certain times and hide it after it’s no longer required) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

The ‘Links’ page will display in your browser. The Links page displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Links page)

Tip: To view or hide fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …

(Links screen – Screen Options)

Enable/disable fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their check boxes …

(Hide or display – Links page)

Editing Links

To edit a link in the Link Manager, go to the WP admin menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your links table …

(WP Links Menu – All Links)

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

(Editing your links)

Edit the link …

(Edit Link page)

After you’re done editing the link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

How To Remove Your Links

To delete a link, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.

To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove and click on Delete …

(Deleting your links)

To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …

(Deleting multiple links)

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

(Links: bulk-delete function)

Your links will be removed …

(Deleted links notice)

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 display links on your website.

Links Widget

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP admin menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …

(Appearance – Widgets)

The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your browser.

You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want your links to show up …

(Adding a links widget to a widgetized menu using drag & drop)

The Links widget includes a number of 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 also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and feature links throughout your site …

(Add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)

Select a link category to display links for a specific category …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget options – Sort by options)

Once you are done configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links should show 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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on using widgets. Go here to learn more about this:

• How To Add And Configure Widgets In Your WordPress Sidebar Area

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sorting, filtering, and searching functionality.

Sort Links Function

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 …

(Sorting links function)

Finding Links Function

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

(You can easily find links with the search function)

Filtering Links

You can filter links by categories …

(Filter links by categories)

You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. 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 screen)

This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …

(Links filtered by link category)

Links – Additional Options

If you plan to use links extensively on 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 – Plugin For WordPress)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin lets you display a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …

(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)

This plugin creates a page on your web site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, and 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 additions to your link library.

To learn more about using this WordPress plugin, visit the plugin site:

• Link Library WP Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to external websites and pages in WordPress.

We have also created a comprehensive article about adding hyperlinks in WordPress posts here:

• How To Use The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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