As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar menu 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.”
The Links feature lets you easily add links to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WP Links Feature – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Links is no longer included in the menu after WP v.3.5)
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 Link Manager, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not display 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 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 links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
Use this plugin to restore the Links menu on your 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, this 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WordPress Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these instructions:
In your WordPress dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type in “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 it has been installed …
After activating the plugin, the ‘Links’ feature is restored to the WP dashboard menu …
(Links menu)
Configuring Link Manager
Before you start adding any new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit 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 your link category description.
When finished, click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories screen)
The new category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to site visitors. This not only makes 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 …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
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, and click on Update Link Category …
(Edit the link category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many different link categories as you need.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, select Links > Add New in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – 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 ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(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 …
(Name, Web Address& Description – Add New Link)
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter here displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the 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 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 your link …
(Categories & Target area – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
Next, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where you want the link to open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a new, separate browser window will open up 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))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Bella Smith and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section 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 what relationship exists 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add an image URL and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link will display next to the link.
- 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 want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
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 in your Blogroll section …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like a link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, go to the dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser. The Links page displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To display additional information in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Link Information
To modify a link, select Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu to bring up the links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your links)
Change your link fields …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and make sure that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To delete links, select Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link title that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check box next to every item that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The 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.
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 dashboard navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your web browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget provides a number of settings. You can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - options)
You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and display specific link categories on your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
Display a list of links for a specific 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 options – Sorting options)
When you have finished setting up your links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will appear on your website’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 more help using widgets? To learn more about using widgets, refer to this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sort, filter, and search features.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links function)
Finding Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(Search your links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering links by link category)
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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website, or if you want 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site containing all 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 that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about this WordPress plugin, visit this website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to WordPress.
Go here if you want to learn more how to insert HTML links into your WordPress content:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum