As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or web 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.”
The Links Manager lets you add external hyperlinks to a widgetized theme.
Prior to the release of v3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v3.5)
After …
(Links – excluded from WordPress after WordPress v3.5)
If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than v 3.5 and upgraded your installation, 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 menu section is not displayed when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add it by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin displays the built-in Link Manager, even if you update 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 in order 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)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From the WordPress admin menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, 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 you have activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will be displayed in your WP navigation menu …
(WordPress links menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before adding new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your dashboard menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(WP Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug displays in the search-engine friendly URL of the link category. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
The category details will now show in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when creating a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to visitors. 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 …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(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 …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Sponsors’ etc).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can being adding new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in your navigation menu …
(Links – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter your link details …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Addressand Description fields)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link page)
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 radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how your link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a separate web browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new site 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. 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 page – Link Relationship (XFN) fields)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Alexis Larsson 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 specifies the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute defines what relationship exists 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords using spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Add New Link – Advanced fields)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 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 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 essential for links to work.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you select Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, select Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page. The Links page displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view or hide information in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Links screen – Screen Options)
Display/hide fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Links table – Hide or display screen options)
How To Edit Links
To edit links, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu to bring up your table of links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing links)
Make any changes you want to your link …
(Edit Link page)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To remove a link, choose Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the checkbox next to each link that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop-down menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The links will be deleted …
(Link deletion notification)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your site.
Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP admin menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the active widget areas in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Drag & drop the links widget to add it to your widget bar)
The Links widget offers various options. For example, 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 options)
You can also add as many link widgets to your sidebar as you want. This allows you to create and display specific multiple lists of links throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(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 options – Sorting options)
After setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will display on your sidebar …
(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 help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on adding widgets here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filtering, searching, and sorting functions.
Sort 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 links)
Find Links
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(Finding links)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter your links by category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add lots 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 links on 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)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin lets you publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus all links defined for 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.
Visit this site to learn more about the benefits of using this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to your WordPress site.
We have written a detailed article on how to easily add HTML hyperlinks in WordPress posts. For more details:
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group