As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar area is often referred to 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 blogroll using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will display on your website if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(Links – included in the menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v 3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not display 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 Links feature is not visible when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add it via a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
This plugin restores the default Link Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, this 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WP admin area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, the ‘Links’ function will be restored to your admin menu area …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before you start adding any new links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO friendly URL 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. (Optional)
Click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this default WordPress link category name to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
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 …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add 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)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as your site requires.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can start adding new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in the WP dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Addressand Description – Add New Link)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears in the URL 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create 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 your link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the 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. Ignore this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Bella Smith and you link to her blog, you would probably check 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 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 defines what relationship exists 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords using spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of your image 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: 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 are not essential.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Links section …
(You can make links private by checking the box)
Making links private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them when they are no longer required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your web browser. The Links page displays a list of all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To show or hide information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Display/hide information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Links
To modify links, go to your dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your links screen …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Change the link information …
(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 see your link and check 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 Links
To delete a link, go to the dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all of your links.
To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the checkboxes next to individual items that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the main 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 the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(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 make links display on your website.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load in your browser.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your widget areas in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want your links section to display …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized area using drag & drop)
The Links widget includes a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget options)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This lets you create and display link categories throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display a specific list of items …
(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 – Sorting options)
Once you are done setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links will show up immediately on your site …
(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 help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about configuring widgets. To learn more, go here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with sort, search, and filter functions.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links function)
Searching Links
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(You can find links with the search function)
Filter Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering links by category)
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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links grouped 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 if you want to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to 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 – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you publish a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your site 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 so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
Visit this website to learn more this handy plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
If you want to learn more about adding HTML links to your WordPress posts & pages, 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)