As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites or pages displayed 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 add a link section using the Links menu in your WordPress Dashboard. These links will display on your site if you have added the Links widget.

Before the release of WP version 3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …

Before …

(Links appeared in the admin menu until the release of WordPress v.3.5)

After …

(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager)

If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than v 3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be 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 Manager is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial shows you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)

Download URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager

Description Of Plugin

You can use this plugin to restore the built-in Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.

Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to your installation in order to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the 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 Of Plugin

Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

How To Install The Plugin

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

From your WP admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …

Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

After activation, a ‘Links’ item will be displayed in your WP sidebar menu area …

(WordPress links management menu section)

Configuring The Plugin

Before adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to the link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, go to the WP dashboard menu and choose Links > Link Categories …

(Links – Link Categories)

This loads the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the link category name.
• Slug: The slug is the web address part of the link category. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)

When finished, click Add New Link Category …

(Link Categories page)

Your category details will be added to the list …

(Link Categories page)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category name)

You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something that will make sense to blog readers. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …

(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …

(Editing the link category)

Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …

(Quick Edit)

Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).

Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …

(Link category description)

Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update done to save your settings …

(Edit Link Category area)

Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site requires.

Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can start adding new links.

Adding Links

To create a new link, go to the WP navigation menu and select Links > Add New …

(Links Menu – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …

(Add New Link page)

You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter your link details in this section …

(Name, Web Address& Description area – Add New Link)

Enter the following information:

• Name: What you enter here displays as the link category name.
• Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL bit of the link category. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse.

Categories & Target

After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for the link …

(Add New Link page – Categories & Target area)

In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category link.

Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where your link should open when clicked on:

• _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate window will open up in their browser to display the information associated with the link.
• _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your web 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 area provides some additional link functionality …

(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN) area)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Noah Cooper 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. 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 specifies the 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, help, index, start, etc.

To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave the fields in this section empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings – Add New Link page)

The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:

• 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 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 would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).

Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not required.

When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …

(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)

Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Links section …

(Make your links private)

Making links private allows you to add links and then 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 added, go to the WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ page. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Table of links)

Tip: To display additional fields in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen Options – List of links)

Enable/disable information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …

(Show/hide – Table of links)

How To Edit Your Link Information

To modify a link, select Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu to bring up the table of links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …

(Editing your links)

Edit your link …

(Edit Link page)

After you’re done editing the link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to view 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 from your list …

(Update Link button)

How To Delete Your Links

To delete links, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …

(Links – 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 delete all of your links.

To delete individual links, hover your mouse 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 items that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …

(Deleting multiple links)

Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click Apply to remove your selected links …

(Bulk-deletion of links)

The links you have selected will be deleted …

(links deleted message)

Plugin Usage

Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to display links on your website or blog.

Using The 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 – Widgets)

The ‘Widgets’ screen will load 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 bars and drop it wherever you want the links section to show up …

(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to your sidebar)

The Links widget offers a number of configurable settings. For example, 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 - settings)

You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you create and feature different links on your site …

(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)

You can select a link category …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …

(Link widget settings – Sort by options)

When you have finished configuring your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links will show 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 about this go here:

• Adding Widgets To Your WordPress Sidebar Area

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with filter, sort, and search functions.

Sorting Your Links

You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sorting links)

Searching Links

You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …

(You can search links with the search function)

Filter Links

You can filter links by link categories …

(Filtering links by link categories)

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 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)

Links – Additional Options

If you plan to use links extensively on your website or blog, or if you intend to add a ‘Links’ page 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 links.

Link Library

(Link library – WordPress Links Management Plugin)

Plugin URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/

Plugin Description

Link Library gives you the ability to display a list of your link categories with a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …

(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin website.)

This useful plugin 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. 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 of your links that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more about Link Library:

• Link Library Plugin For WordPress

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in WordPress.

We have also written a comprehensive article about inserting links into your WordPress content here:

• How To Use The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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