As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or 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 manage a blogroll using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will then display on your blog if you have added the Links widget.
Before the release of version 3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you were using the Link Manager in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used the Links Manager feature, however, or if your website is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be displayed on your dashboard 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 menu section is not displayed when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
This plugin restores the default Links menu on your dashboard, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds 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 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 removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow the instructions below:
From the WP dashboard 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 …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After activating the plugin, the ‘Links’ function is restored to your admin menu …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Configuration
Before adding any new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: What you type here is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address of the link category name. It must all be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
When finished, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default link category name to something that will make sense to your blog readers. This will not only make 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 …
(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the default category 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, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat the above process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Add New …
(WP Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Address, Description section)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the URL of the link category name. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add 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 where the link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link. This allows your visitors to access the link information without leaving your website
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will leave 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 ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link page – Link Relationship (XFN) fields)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Tennyson Fields and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links 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 defines a relationship 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave the fields in this section blank unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Advanced area)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the image URL 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 will be displayed 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 would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential for links to work.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(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 Blogroll section …
(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want the link to display during certain periods and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all the links you have added, go to the WP navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To display additional options in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Hide or display – Links page)
Editing Link Information
To modify links, choose Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu to bring up the table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing your link information)
Edit your link fields …
(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 everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To delete a link, select Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or remove all links.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link title that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete a number of links at once, 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 …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Link deletion 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 or blog.
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 admin menu …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will display in your web browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your widget areas in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want the links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your widget bar)
The Links widget includes various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - settings)
You can also add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This lets you create and display multiple link sections on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(Link widget options – 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)
When you have finished configuring your links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should become visible on your sidebar …
(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 with widgets? To learn more about using widgets, see this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with searching, filtering, and sorting functions.
Sort Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links function)
Searching Links Function
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(You can easily find links using the search function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filter links by link 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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website, 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer links.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin gives you the ability to display a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, plus all links listed in 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.
Go here to learn more this powerful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to external sites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a comprehensive article about how to insert HTML hyperlinks into your WordPress content. For more details:
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