As you discover 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 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.”
You can manage a set of links using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will then display on your sidebar if you have added the Links widget.
Prior to the release of v.3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v.3.5, the Link Manager section was kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(The Link Manager – included in the menu until the release of WP version 3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature – excluded from WordPress after WordPress v.3.5)
If you’ve used an earlier version than 3.5 and updated your installation, then 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 you can’t see a Links section on your main menu when you log into your WP backend, you can add it via a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the Links menu on your dashboard, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to your installation to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the plugin had not been updated for a while, but it should still work fine. If you don’t want to use the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin 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 same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WordPress dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ item on your sidebar menu screen …
(Links management menu section)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding any 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 new link category, go to the navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter here is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of the link category name. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will be added to the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your blog readers. This not only makes 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 link category name to something better suited to your business)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name (remember to keep the slug in lowercase letters and replace all spaces with a hyphen), and click on Update Link Category …
(Edit the link category name)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Links’ etc).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as your site needs.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can add your links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, go to the admin menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
This takes you to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Addressand Description fields)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of your 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target section – Add New Link page)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Next, 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 a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a separate window will open up in their browser to display the information associated with the link. This lets your visitors access the link information without leaving your site
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens the link at the top level of the frame system if you’re using frames. Don’t worry about 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 …
(Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Lilly Silva and you link to her 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 the links defined on your site 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 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, index, help, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains 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 display next to your link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you select Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on and 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 view all the links you have added, choose Links > All Links in your dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The Links screen displays a list of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To display additional information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Show/hide fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Links page – Show/hide screen options)
Editing Links
To modify links in the Link Manager, go to the main navigation menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit 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 the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To remove a link, select Links > All Links in your navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ screen.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all of your links at once.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check box next to every link 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 …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(links deleted notice)
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 make links display on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of your active widget areas in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like your links to show up …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to your sidebar)
The Links widget offers various configurable settings. You can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you add and feature specific a number of different links on your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pulldown menu …
(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 – Sort by options)
When you have finished configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should appear on your website or blog’s sidebar menu …
(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 using widgets? We have written a detailed article on configuring widgets here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, sorting, and filtering functionality.
Sorting Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort your links)
Search Links
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(Finding links)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter links by link categories)
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 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 category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, 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 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 publish a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library can be used to create 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 link collection that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Go here to learn more about using this powerful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress sidebar.
We have written a detailed article about how to easily insert HTML hyperlinks into WordPress. Go here to learn more about this:
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