As you continue to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or blogs displayed on your sidebar menu.
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.”
The Links feature lets you easily add hyperlinks to your WordPress sidebar section (e.g. a “Recommended Resources” section) using a widget.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After version 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager appeared in the menu until the release of WordPress version 3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you’ve used an earlier version than v 3.5 and updated your installation, the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve 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 you can’t see a Links item on your main menu when you log into your WP admin area, you can add it by installing a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
You can use this plugin to display the built-in Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing 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 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)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WordPress Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these instructions:
From your WP admin 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 screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
Once you’ve activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will show up in the navigation menu …
(WordPress links management menu)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding links. This way, you can assign new links to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the main navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your 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.
When done, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories screen)
The new category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category for 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 be assigned to the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category 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, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update when you’re done …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as your site requires.
After setting up your link categories, you can being adding your links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in the WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links page – 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 section)
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter in this field will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the URL 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 your link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target fields – Add New Link screen)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category link.
Next, 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:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the content for that 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 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link screen – Link Relationship (XFN))
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 Diya Cooper and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all of 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 is used to define 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave the fields in this section empty unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Advanced fields)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, 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 will be displayed next to your link.
- 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 would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain periods and hide them when not required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the main admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ table. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To display additional information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Display/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Your Link Information
To modify links, select Links > All Links in your WP navigation menu to bring up the links page …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your link information)
Edit your link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your link table …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or remove all links.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the check boxes next to individual items that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the 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 Apply to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The selected links 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, it’s time to display links on your site.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
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 the widget sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area)
The Links widget includes a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - settings)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you add and feature specific a number of lists of links throughout your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
Once you are done setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links should appear on your sidebar menu …
(An example of how 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 more help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on using widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sorting, searching, and filtering features.
Sort Your Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Find Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Search links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filtering links by 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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website, or if you would like to add a page containing a list of links to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 of 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 this handy plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to your WordPress site.
We have written a detailed article on creating HTML hyperlinks in your WordPress posts & pages. For more info, see 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)