As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or 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 Manager lets you add a links section to a widget-ready theme.

Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …

Before …

(The Links Manager appeared in the WordPress dashboard menu until the release of WordPress v 3.5)

After …

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

If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v 3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it.

 

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, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager)

Plugin URL

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

Description Of Plugin

You can use this plugin to restore the Links menu on your WP dashboard, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. The last time we checked, this plugin had not been updated for some time, 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 Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description

Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

How To Install The Plugin

To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow these step-by-step instructions:

From your WordPress dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”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 it has been installed …

After activation, the ‘Links’ feature is restored to the admin menu …

(WordPress links menu)

Plugin Setup

We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding new links. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, go to your navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …

(Links – Link Categories)

You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the link category name.
• Slug: The slug appears in the search-engine friendly URL of the link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description.

When finished, click Add New Link Category …

(Link Categories)

Your category details will display in the table …

(Link Categories)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)

You may want to change the default link category name to something that will make sense to your blog readers. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be listed under the new category name …

(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Edit the link category)

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

(Update Link Category)

In our example, the link category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable category 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 …

(Link category description)

Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update when done …

(Edit Link Category area)

Repeat this process to add as many link categories as you need.

Once you have configured your link categories, you can add new links.

How To Add Links

To add a new link, go to the WP navigation menu and select Links > Add New …

(Links – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …

(Add New Link screen)

You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

This section is where you enter your link details …

(Name, Web Addressand Description)

Type in information into the following sections:

• Name: Enter the category name here.
• Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of your link category name. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description.

Categories & Target

After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …

(Categories & Target area)

In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.

Next, 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 a visitor clicks on it:

• _blank means that a new web browser window will open up to display the content 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. Ignore this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.

Link Relationship XFN

This section provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) fields)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Ritvik 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 work just fine. Defining relationships with 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 specifies a relationship between the current document and the linked document. For example, if you don’t want search engines to follow your link, enter nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, help, start, etc.

To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields empty unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings)

The Advanced link settings section contains 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 the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
• RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link will be displayed next to your link.
• 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 are not essential.

When you have finished adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …

(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)

Note: If you select 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 allows you to toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like your link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have added, select Links > All Links in the WP admin menu …

(WordPress Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ page will display in your browser. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …

(Links screen)

Tip: To view additional columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …

(Screen Options – Links page)

Enable/disable information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …

(Hide or display – Links table)

Editing Your Links

To edit a link, click on Links > All Links in the main navigation menu to bring up the table of links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

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

(Editing links)

Edit your link …

(Edit Link screen)

After editing your link, you can:

• Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to 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 from your list …

(Update Link button)

Removing Your Links

To delete links, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard menu …

(Links Menu – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your browser.

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

To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …

(Delete your links)

To delete links in bulk, either tick the check box next to every link that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …

(Deleting multiple links)

Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pull-down menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …

(Bulk-delete links)

Your selected links will be deleted …

(Deleted links message)

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 make links display on your website.

Using The Links Widget

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the dashboard navigation menu …

(Appearance Menu – Widgets)

You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.

You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …

(Adding a links widget to your sidebar using drag & drop)

The Links widget offers a number of settings. For example, 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 as you want. This allows you to add and display various links on your site …

(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)

Select a link category to display a specific list of items …

(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 options – Sort by options)

When you have finished configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will now appear on your site …

(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 on using widgets here:

• How To Add And Configure Widgets In WordPress

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sorting, filtering, and searching 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 little black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sort links)

Find Links Function

Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …

(You can easily search links using the search function)

Filtering Your Links

You can filter links by link category …

(Filtering your links by link categories)

You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for 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 listed for a specific link category …

(Links filtered by category)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, or if you intend to add a ‘Links’ page 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 your links.

Link Library

(Link Library WordPress Plugin)

Download Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

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

(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin documentation.)

Link Library creates a page on your website containing all the link categories in your Links area, plus all links defined for 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 so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.

Go here to learn more about the benefits of using this plugin:

• Link Library Plugin For WordPress

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to WordPress.

We have written a comprehensive article on how to easily add HTML hyperlinks into WordPress posts. Go here to learn more:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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