As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar as a blogroll.

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 add a link section using the Links menu in your WP Dashboard. These links will display on your website once you add the Links widget.

Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …

Before …

(Links was part of the WordPress admin menu until the release of WP v.3.5)

After …

(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)

If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Link Manager would have been 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 you can’t see a Links section on your main menu when you log into your WP admin area, you can add this feature via a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

You can use this plugin to restore the default Links menu on your dashboard, even if you update to a later version of WordPress 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. 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description

Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Plugin Installation

To install the Link Manager plugin, follow the step-by-step instructions below:

From your WP administration menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …

Find the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

After you’ve activated the plugin, WordPress restores the ‘Links’ function to your admin menu area …

(WordPress links menu)

Configuring Link Manager

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

Link Categories

To create a new link category, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Links > Link Categories …

(Links Menu – Link Categories)

This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.

Enter the following information:

• Name: Whatever you type in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug shows up in the web address of the link category. Use only lowercase letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)

When finished, click Add New Link Category …

(Link Categories page)

The new category will be added to the list …

(Link Categories)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding a 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 will make sense to your visitors. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …

(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

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

(Editing the default link category)

Change 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 …

(Quick Edit)

In our example, the category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

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 the category description)

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

(Edit Link Category screen)

Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as you need.

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

How To Add New Links

To create a new link, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Links > Add New …

(Links – Add New)

The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your web browser …

(Add New Link screen)

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

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter details about your link in this section …

(Name, Web Address& Description fields)

Enter the following information:

• Name: Whatever you type here displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
• 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.

Categories & Target

After adding your link details, 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 the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.

Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where the link should open when clicked on:

• _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new, separate browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
• _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new website 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) area)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Michael Fields and you link to his blog, you would probably check 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 websites 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 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, index, help, etc.

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 (You can leave the fields in this section empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …

(Advanced section)

The Advanced link settings section contains the following:

• Image Address: Lets you 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 RSS feed associated with the link will display next to your link.
• Notes: This section lets you add notes 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 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 tick Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Links section …

(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)

Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have created, go to the dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

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

(Links page)

Tip: To display additional fields in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen Options – Links screen)

Display/hide fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …

(Links table – Hide or display screen options)

Editing Your Link Information

To edit a link in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu to bring up your list of links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

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

(Editing link information)

Change the link …

(Edit Link screen)

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

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

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

Removing Your Links

To delete links, select Links > All Links in your dashboard navigation menu …

(Links Menu – All Links)

You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen.

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

To delete links individually, hover over the link you want removed and click on Delete …

(Deleting links)

To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check box next to every link that you want to delete, 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 all selected links …

(Bulk-delete links)

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, it’s time to display links on your website or blog.

Using The Links Widget

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your admin menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …

(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)

This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your web browser.

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

(Links widget)

To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the widget areas and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …

(Add a links widget to your sidebar using drag and drop)

The Links widget includes a number of options. For example, you can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget - configurable settings)

You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you create and display specific various lists of links on your site …

(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

You can add and display a list of links for a specific category …

(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget options – Sorting options)

After setting up the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section should show on your site’s sidebar menu …

(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 help with widgets? If you want to learn more about widgets, see this article:

• How To Add WordPress Widgets To The Sidebar Area

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with searching, sorting, and filtering features.

Sorting 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 …

(You can easily sort your links)

Finding Links

Find links using the ‘Search Links’ button …

(Searching your links)

Filter Links

You can filter links by categories …

(Filtering your links by category)

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 page)

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

(Links filtered by link 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 page containing a list of links to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to look at using a plugin that can help you administer links.

Link Library

(Link Library Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library gives you the ability to publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links with descriptions and notes …

(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)

This useful plugin can be used to create 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 become aware of any additions made to to your link library.

For more details about this WordPress plugin, go here:

• Link Library – WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to WordPress.

We have written a comprehensive article on how to insert hyperlinks into WordPress posts. Go here to learn more about this:

• Using The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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