As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external 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 links on your sidebar using the WordPress Link Manager plugin.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress version 3.5, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature – part of the menu until the release of WP v3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links Manager)
If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than v.3.5 and updated your installation, 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 the Links menu section is not displayed when you log into your WP dashboard, you can add it via a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
Use this plugin to restore the default Links Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow the step-by-step instructions below:
In the WordPress dashboard area, go to 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 activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will be displayed on the WP sidebar menu screen …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before adding links, it’s a good idea to first set 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, select Links > Link Categories in your dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part 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 a link category description.
When finished, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will now show in the table …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change the default link category name to something that will make sense to your visitors. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically display under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat the above process and add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can start adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, select Links > Add New in your WP navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description fields – Add New Link page)
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug displays in the URL of the link category. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category.
Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how your link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate window will open up in their browser to display the content associated with the link.
- _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 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Austin Smith and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all your links will still work. Defining relationships with 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 the 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, help, start, index, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen lets you specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced area – Add New Link screen)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, 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 RSS feed associated with the link can 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 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.
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, your link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want your link to display during certain periods and hide it afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all the links you have added to the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in your WP navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To display additional information in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Links page – Screen Options)
Show/hide information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Table of links)
Editing Links
To modify links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the dashboard menu to bring up the links screen …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Make changes to your link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To remove a link, go to the WP dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all links.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check box next to each link that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pull-down menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Deleted links notice)
Using The Plugin
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.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget areas and drop it wherever you want the links section to display …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides various configurable settings. You can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This allows you to add and feature a number of link sections throughout your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should appear on your website …
(Links can be displayed on a 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? To learn more about adding widgets, refer to this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filter, sort, and search functions.
Sorting Your Links
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Searching Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(Find links function)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter links by 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 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 category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot 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 a links section to 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 Links Management Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your website containing all the link categories in your Links area, 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 link collection so that your site users can be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Go here to learn more about the benefits of using this great plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites and pages in WordPress.
Go here to learn more about creating HTML hyperlinks in your WordPress posts & pages:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)