As you continue to discover more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar area is sometimes referred to as a blogroll.
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 Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager – included in the menu until the release of WordPress version 3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WP Links Manager)
If you were using the Links feature in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your website is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not appear on your menu.
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 item is not displayed when you log into your WP dashboard, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin restores the default Links menu on your WP dashboard, even if you upgrade 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 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 this 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
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WP admin area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After the plugin is activated, the ‘Links’ feature is restored to your WP navigation menu …
(Links menu section)
Plugin Setup
Before adding new links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to your WP admin menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- 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.
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories area)
Your link category will now show in the list …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change the default link category name to something better suited to your business. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(we recommend changing 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 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), then click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Items’ etc).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many link categories as your site requires.
After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, click on Links > Add New in your WP admin menu …
(Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter your link details …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Addressand Description area)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of your 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.
Categories & Target
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link 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 how you want your link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a separate window will open up in their web browser to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit your site and a new site 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Logan Cooper and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and your links will still work. XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some sites 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, help, 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’ page lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave the fields in this section blank unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add an 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 display next to the 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 are not essential.
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 tick the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make your links private)
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 times and hide them when not required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have created, choose Links > All Links in the WP dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser. The Links page displays a list of all your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view additional options in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – List of links)
Display/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide – Links screen)
How To Edit Link Information
To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to your navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing links)
Change the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your admin menu …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all your links at once.
To delete individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkboxes next to individual links that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The selected links will be deleted …
(links deleted notice)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to display links on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP admin menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your widget areas in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want the links to show up …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to your widget bar)
The Links widget provides various configurable settings. You can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - options)
You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you add and feature links sorted by categories throughout your site …
(You can 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 title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will show 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 widgets. If you would like to learn more about this here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using search, sort, and filter functions.
Sort 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 black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort your links)
Find Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering links by category)
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 website or blog, or if you want to add a page containing a list of links 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 links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you output a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your website that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 for your links so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more this powerful plugin, visit the plugin site:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article on creating HTML hyperlinks in WordPress. For more info, see this article:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now