As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other 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.”

The Links feature lets you easily add a links section to your WordPress sidebar area (e.g. a “We Use And Recommend” section) using widgets.

Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links Manager section was removed …

Before …

(The Links Manager displayed in the dashboard menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)

After …

(Post v.3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)

If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not appear on the dashboard 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 you can’t see the Links Manager section when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager Plugin)

Plugin URL

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

Description

Use this plugin to display 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 in order to restore the hidden feature. The last time we 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/

Plugin Description

Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Installing The Plugin

To install the Link Manager plugin on your site, follow the step-by-step instructions below:

In your WordPress admin area, 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 …

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

Activate the plugin after installing it …

After activation, a ‘Links’ section will show up in the dashboard menu area …

(WordPress links menu)

Plugin Setup

Before you start adding new links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign your link to the link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your WP navigation menu …

(Links Menu – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ page will load in your browser.

Enter the following information:

• Name: What you type in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO friendly URL of the link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description.

Click the Add New Link Category button …

(Link Categories page)

Your category details will display in the list …

(Link Categories area)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when creating a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …

(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)

You may want to change this default WordPress link category name to something that your visitors can relate to. 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 …

(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)

To change the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …

(Quick Edit)

Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on Update Link Category …

(Edit the default link category name)

Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Resources’ etc).

Let’s insert 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 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.

After setting up your link categories, you can add your links.

How To Add Links

To create a new link, select Links > Add New in your dashboard menu …

(Links – Add New)

This loads the Add New Link’ screen 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 is divided into a number of sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section lets you enter details about your link …

(Name, Web Addressand Description – Add New Link page)

Enter information into the following sections:

• Name: Whatever you type in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug displays in the SEO 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 your 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 …

(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target section)

In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add 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 your 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. This allows your visitors to see the information without leaving your site
• _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new site 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. 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 …

(Add New Link – 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 Aditya Silva and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave the fields in this section empty unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)

The Advanced link settings section contains the following:

• Image Address: 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 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).

Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential.

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

(Click on Add Link to save your new link)

Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …

(Private link checkbox)

Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want the link to display during certain times and hide it after it’s no longer required) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the main navigation menu and select Links > All Links …

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser. The Links table displays a list of all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …

(List of links)

Tip: To view or hide information in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen Options – Table of links)

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

(Show/hide links)

How To Edit Links

To edit links, go to the WP admin menu and select Links > All Links to bring up your links table …

(Links Menu – All Links)

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

(Editing your links)

Make any changes you want to your link details …

(Edit Link screen)

After editing the link, you can:

• Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up your link’s URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
• Click Delete to remove the link from your table of links …

(Update Link button)

Deleting Links

To remove a link, go to your WP navigation menu and select Links > All Links …

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ screen.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or remove all of your links at once.

To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link that you want to remove and click on Delete …

(Deleting your links)

To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Delete multiple links)

Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …

(Bulk-deletion of links)

Your links will be deleted …

(Link deletion notice)

Using The Plugin

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

Using The Links Widget

Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.

To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in the admin menu …

(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)

You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.

You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to 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 would like your links to display …

(Add a links widget to your widget bar using drag and drop)

The Links widget offers a number of options. You can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget - configurable options)

You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you create and display a number of link lists throughout your site …

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

You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget settings – Sorting options)

When you have finished configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section will become visible on your website’s sidebar …

(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 comprehensive article on widgets here:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To Your Blog Sidebar

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filtering, sorting, and searching functions.

Sort Your Links

To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sorting links)

Search Your Links

Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …

(Searching your links)

Filtering Links Function

You can filter links by link category …

(Filter your links by 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 links in the ‘Links’ column …

(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)

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 use links extensively on your website or blog, 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.

Link Library

(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library allows you to output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …

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

This useful plugin creates a page on your web site containing all 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 for your link collection that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.

Go here to learn more this powerful plugin:

• Link Library

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites in your WordPress sidebar menu.

To learn more about adding links to your WordPress posts and pages, see this article:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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