As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar is often referred to 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 easily add and manage links to a widgetized theme.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager)
If you have used an earlier version than v3.5 and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have 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 the Links menu section is not displayed when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin displays the Links Manager, even if you update 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 your installation 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 Link Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WP administration area, 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 area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After activation, a ‘Links’ item will show on your WP sidebar menu screen …
(WordPress links management menu)
Setting Up The Plugin
Before you start adding links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address of the link category. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories page)
The category details will be added to the list …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category for a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change the default link category name to something that will make sense to 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 assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing 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, we’ve replaced the link category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now 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 …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as your site needs.
After configuring your link categories, you can start adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To create a new link, go to your dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will load in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links screen – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description section – Add New Link screen)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL 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 a link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding your link details, select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target section)
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.
Also, 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 your link to open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that a new, separate 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. 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) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Myra Anderson and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all of your links will still work. Defining relationships with XFN makes the links defined on your site 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, index, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section allows you to 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 fields)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the 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 display next to the links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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 have finished adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like your link to display during certain times and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, select Links > All Links in the dashboard menu …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To show or hide information in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide – Links screen)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To edit a link, click on Links > All Links in the WP dashboard menu to bring up your links table …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing link information)
Make changes to your link fields …
(Edit Link page)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To delete links, select Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all links at once.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check box next to each item 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’ dropdown menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links notice)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your site.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in the main dashboard menu …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your web browser.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget sections and drop it wherever you would like your links to display …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget includes a number of options. You can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget options)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and feature links on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
You can create and display a list of links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
When you have finished setting up the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section should display 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 comprehensive article about adding widgets. To learn more about this go here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with search, filter, and sort functionality.
Sort Links
To sort links, hover your mouse 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 …
(You can easily find links using the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering your links by link 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 page)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link 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 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)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin gives you the ability to display a list of your link categories with a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin site.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your site that contains a list of all of 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 of your links that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
Visit this website to learn more about this powerful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to external websites and pages in WordPress.
To learn more about inserting HTML links into WordPress posts & pages, refer to this article:
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