As you continue to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other websites or 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.”
The Links Manager lets you add and manage external links to a widget-ready theme.
Prior to the release of WordPress v.3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager displayed in the WordPress menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager)
If your website or blog previously displayed this feature, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your WP installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – you will not see it displayed on your 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 a Links section on your main menu when you log into your WP admin area, you can add this feature via a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
Use this plugin to restore 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 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WP administration 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 …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will be displayed in the navigation menu …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding any 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, choose Links > Link Categories in your navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address of the link category. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will display in the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress will 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 your readers. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically display under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, 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 (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 link category ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘XYZ Products’ etc).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update when you’re done …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the WP navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen 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 various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section is where you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address, Description – Add New Link page)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the link category name. Use lowercase letters only and do not include 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 link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add 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 the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate window will open up in their browser to display the information for that link. Your visitor can access the information without leaving your page
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave 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 ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Arjun Cooper and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and your links will work just fine. XFN makes your links more understandable to some sites and search engines that use this information.
rel – This field specifies the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute specifies 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced area)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- 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 RSS feed associated with the link can 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 want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished 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 Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain periods and hide them when not required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your browser. The list of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To display or hide fields in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit links, choose Links > All Links in the main navigation menu to bring up your table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your link information)
Edit your link details …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your list …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove a link, go to your dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen.
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 title that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check box next to every link 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 …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Link deletion notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to display links on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the main navigation menu …
(Appearance – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of the active widget bars and drop it wherever you want your links section to display …
(Drag & drop the links widget to add it to your widget bar)
The Links widget includes various settings. You can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can also add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This allows you to create and display link sections on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category to display links for a specific category …
(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 the Save button to update your settings. Your link section will now be visible on your site’s 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 detailed article about widgets. Go here to learn more:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with filtering, searching, and sorting 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 …
(Sort links)
Finding Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find your links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filter your links by categories)
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 category 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 add lots of links to your site, or if you want to add a ‘Links’ page 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 – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)
This plugin creates a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and 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 that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Visit the plugin site to learn more about the benefits of using this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress site.
If you want to learn more about adding hyperlinks to WordPress, refer to this article:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)