As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites or web pages that display on your sidebar area.
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 add a link section using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will then display on your site if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WP Links Manager – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)
If you have used an earlier version than 3.5 and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be displayed 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 the main menu when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add this feature via a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin restores the default Link Manager, 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 template code to WordPress 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 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/
Description
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From the WP admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will be displayed on the WP sidebar menu screen …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding new links. This way, you can assign any new links to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to the main admin menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your browser.
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address of the 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.
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will be added to the list …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating 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 that your visitors can understand. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Resources’ etc).
Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can start adding new links.
Adding New Links
To add a new link, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address& Description)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of the link category name. 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick 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 radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a separate browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then just ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Roman Smith 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. XFN makes your links 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 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, index, help, start, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit 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) …
(Advanced area – Add New Link page)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the image URL and make sure that your 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 links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not required.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make links private by checking the box)
Making a link private lets you toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like a 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 a list of all the links you have created, click on Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links page)
Display/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(List of links – Show/hide screen options)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To modify links, go to the admin menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(Links – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing link information)
Make the changes you want to your link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your list if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To delete links, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all of your links at once.
To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check box next to each item that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(links deleted notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to display your links on your website or blog.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Add a links widget to your widget bar)
The Links widget includes various options. You can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget settings)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to add and display specific lists of links on your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
After setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links should appear on your website or blog’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 more help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on widgets. If you are interested in learning more here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filter, sort, and search features.
Sorting Links
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Finding Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filter 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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays 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 intend 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 Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library gives you the ability to output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links together with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and 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 links that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.
Visit the plugin site to learn more about this handy plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to other sites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a detailed article on how to add links to your WordPress content. For more details, go here:
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