As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar section.
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 featured links section on your sidebar using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WordPress Links Manager Feature – pre v.3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager feature – excluded from WordPress after WordPress v.3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your WP installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not be displayed on the 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 Link Manager is not visible when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to restore the default Link 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 template code to your installation in order 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the one 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/
Plugin Description
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – 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 screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
Once you have activated the plugin, WordPress will add a ‘Links’ item to the admin menu …
(Links management menu section)
Setting Up The Plugin
Before you start adding any new 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 a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the dashboard menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of your link category. It must all be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
The link category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something better suited to your business. This not only makes 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 relate to)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Editing the link category name)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘XYZ Sites’ etc).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Links > Add New …
(WP Links – Add New)
This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Address, Description – Add New Link screen)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the URL 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link 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 you want the link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new, separate window will open up in their browser to display the content associated with the link. Your visitor can see the link information without leaving your website
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your browser window instead.
- _top opens the link 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link screen)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Ellie Gould and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of 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 lets you specify the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute defines the relationship between the current document and the linked document. For example, if you don’t want search engines to follow your link, enter nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, help, index, start, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen 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) …
(Add New Link – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:
- 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 RSS feed associated with the link 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 want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential for links to work.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link 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 links private allows you to toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, click on Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser. The Links table displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To view additional columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Links screen – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To modify links in the Link Manager, go to the WP admin menu and select Links > All Links to bring up your list of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing link information)
Change the link details …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done 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 your link’s URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to the WP dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on 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)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop-down menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links will be deleted …
(links deleted message)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display your links on your site.
Using The Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will display in your browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget areas in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like your links to show up …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized area)
The Links widget includes various options. For example, you can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget options)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and display link lists on your site …
(Add a number of 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 rating, Link ID, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
After setting up the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will show up immediately on your sidebar, footer or wherever you place the widget in …
(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? Go here for a detailed article about configuring widgets:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, search, and filter features.
Sorting Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort links)
Search Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Searching links function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering your links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to find 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 grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, or if you want to add a page containing a list of links 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 links.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your website that contains a list of all of 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 links that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about using this handy plugin, visit the plugin website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links in WordPress.
If you want to learn more about how to easily add HTML hyperlinks to your WordPress content, refer to this article:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)