As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar menu 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 display a featured links section on your sidebar using the WordPress Link Manager plugin.
Prior to the release of WordPress v 3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Links Manager appeared in the menu until the release of WP version 3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager)
If you’ve used an earlier version than v.3.5 and updated your installation, the Links Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not display 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 you can’t see a Links section on your main menu when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add it by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
You can use this plugin to display the Links feature on your WP 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. 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 template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From the WP administration menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, 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 installing it …
After activation, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ section in your navigation menu area …
(Links management menu)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding new 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 link category, select Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the URL of the link category name. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
When done, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories)
The new category will display in the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when creating a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can relate to. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically display under the new category name …
(we recommend changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Editing the link category name)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Resources’ etc).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many different link categories as your site requires.
After setting up your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, go to the main navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address, Description)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you enter here displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address of the 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)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target fields)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where the link should open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a new web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link.
- _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 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 …
(Add New Link page – Link Relationship (XFN))
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 Saanvi Silva and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all your links will still work. Defining relationships with 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 a 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, index, help, start, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link – Advanced area)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following:
- 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 link’s RSS feed can display next to your links.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section for your own internal reference.
- Rating: 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 ignore this section.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have created, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Show/hide fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Your Links
To modify a link, go to your WP admin menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the links page …
(Links – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your links)
Change the link fields …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and 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 …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you want to delete, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Deleted links notice)
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 links on your site.
Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in the main navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load in your browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of your active widget sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want your links to display …
(Drag & drop the links widget to add it to your widget bar)
The Links widget provides a number of settings. You can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This lets you add and feature link sections sorted by categories on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
You can add and display a list of items for a specific category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sort by options)
After configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will now be visible 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 help using widgets? We have written a detailed article about adding widgets here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using search, sort, and filter features.
Sort Links
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Find Links
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(Search links function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filter your links by link 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 page)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link 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 WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to output a list of your link categories and a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus all links listed in these categories. 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 any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more this plugin, visit the plugin website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to your WordPress site.
We have written a comprehensive article about how to easily insert links into WordPress posts & pages. Go here to learn more about this:
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