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

A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external websites or pages that display 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.”

You can display a links section on your sidebar or footer using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.

Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Link Manager section was removed …

Before …

(WordPress Links Manager – pre version 3.5)

After …

(The Link Manager feature is no longer included in the menu after WordPress v3.5)

If you’ve had an earlier version than 3.5 installed and upgraded 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 you can’t see the Link Manager section when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

You can use this plugin to display the default Links Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.

Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to your installation 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 this plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

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

Plugin Installation

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

In the WordPress administration area, select 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 results screen and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

Once you have activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ section is added to the navigation menu …

(WordPress links management menu section)

Plugin Setup

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

Link Categories

To create a link category, select Links > Link Categories in the WP navigation menu …

(Links Menu – Link Categories)

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

Enter the following information:

• Name: What you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug is the URL bit of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)

after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save …

(Link Categories)

Your link category will be added to the list …

(Link Categories screen)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding 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 relate to. 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 …

(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)

To change the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …

(Editing the link category)

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

(Editing the link category)

In our example, we’ve replaced the category name ‘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, click on Edit under the category name …

(You can add/edit the category description)

Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update when finished …

(Edit Link Category screen)

Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as you need.

Once you have configured your link categories, you can start adding new links.

Adding New Links

To create a new link, select Links > Add New in your WP admin menu …

(WordPress Links – Add New)

This loads the Add New Link’ page in your browser …

(Add New Link screen)

You can also reach this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links page …

(Links – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section is where you enter details about your link …

(Name, Web Address, Description – Add New Link)

Type in the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the link category. Only use lower case letters without 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 link …

(Categories & Target – Add New Link screen)

In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already created, 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 your link should open when visitors click on it:

• _blank means that a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the information for that link. This allows your visitors to see the link information without leaving your website
• _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your web browser window instead.
• _top opens the link at the top level of the frame system if you’re using frames. Ignore this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.

Link Relationship XFN

This area provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) area)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Vikram Gould 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 all your links will work just fine. XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some websites 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.

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

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields blank unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)

The Advanced section contain the following fields:

• 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 will be displayed next to the links.
• Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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 your new link information, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …

(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)

Note: If you select Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …

(Private link checkbox)

Making a link private allows you to add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want a link to display during certain periods and hide it afterwards) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

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

(Links Menu – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Table of links)

Tip: To view additional options in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen Options – Links screen)

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

(Hide or display – Links screen)

How To Edit Link Information

To modify links, go to the admin menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the list of links …

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

Select the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …

(Editing your link information)

Make any changes you want to your link details …

(Edit Link page)

After editing the link, you can:

• Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link if you no longer require it …

(Update Link button)

How To Delete Your Links

To remove links, go to the navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all your links at once.

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

(Delete links)

To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check boxes next to individual items that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …

(Deleting multiple links)

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

(Links: bulk-delete function)

All the links you have selected will be removed …

(links deleted 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 display links on your website.

Links Widget

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

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

(Appearance Menu – Widgets)

This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.

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

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like your links to display …

(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)

The Links widget offers a number of configurable settings. You can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …

(Link widget settings)

You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to create and display different link lists sorted by categories throughout your site …

(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)

Display a list of links for a specific category …

(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget settings – Sort by options)

After configuring your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links should show on your site’s sidebar …

(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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on widgets. To learn more, go here:

• How To Add Widgets To WordPress

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, filter, and search functionality.

Sort Your Links

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

(Sorting your links)

Finding Links

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

(You can search links with the search function)

Filter Links Function

You can filter links by categories …

(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 …

(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)

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

(Links filtered by category)

Links – Additional Options

If you plan to add lots of links to your website or blog, 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, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link Library)

Download Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

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

(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin website.)

This useful plugin creates a page on your website that contains a list of all of 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 of your links so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.

To learn more about this great plugin, go here:

• Link Library

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

We have written a detailed article on how to easily add HTML links to WordPress posts & pages. For more details:

• Using The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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