As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.

In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar is sometimes 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 feature lets you easily add external hyperlinks to a widget-ready theme.

Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …

Before …

(Links was part of the dashboard menu until the release of WordPress v.3.5)

After …

(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)

If you’ve used an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 and upgraded your installation, the Link Manager would have been 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 item on your main menu when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description

The Link Manager plugin restores the built-in Links Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.

Note: This plugin adds 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the one 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/

Plugin Description

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

Plugin Installation

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

From your WordPress dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “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 you’ve activated the plugin, the ‘Links’ function is restored to your WP navigation menu …

(Links management menu section)

Plugin Setup

Before you start adding any new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a new link category, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > Link Categories …

(WP Links Menu – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.

Type in the following information:

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

When done, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …

(Link Categories)

Your category details will display in the list …

(Link Categories page)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category 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 blog readers. This not only makes 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 the Quick Edit link …

(Quick Edit)

Change 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 the Update link Category button …

(Update Link Category)

In our example, we’ve replaced the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, 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 finished …

(Edit Link Category screen)

Repeat the above process and add as many link categories as you need.

After setting up your link categories, you can add new links.

Adding Links

To create a new link, go to the WP dashboard menu and click on Links > Add New …

(Links – Add New)

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

(Add New Link page)

You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …

(Links page – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes various sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section lets you enter details about your link …

(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description area)

Type in information into the following sections:

• Name: What you type 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 be in lowercase letters and contain no 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 with their mouse. (Optional)

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)

In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already set up, 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 where you want the link to open when clicked on:

• _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a separate window will open up in their browser to display the information for that link. Your visitor can access the link information without leaving your page
• _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your 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 …

(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN))

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Daisy Larsson and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. XFN makes the links defined on your site 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 what relationship exists 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.

To learn more about XFN, visit this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you specify 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 page – Advanced link settings)

The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:

• Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of your image 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 can be displayed next to your links.
• Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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, as these fields are not essential for links to work.

When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …

(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)

Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Links section …

(Make your links private)

Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have added, choose Links > All Links in your dashboard menu …

(Links – All Links)

You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page. The table of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …

(Table of links)

Tip: To view or hide fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen Options – Links screen)

Display/hide fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …

(Show/hide links)

Editing Link Information

To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your WP navigation menu to bring up the links table …

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …

(Editing link information)

Make any changes you want to your link fields …

(Edit Link screen)

After editing the link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link from your table of links …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

Removing Your Links

To delete links, select Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu …

(Links Menu – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your web browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.

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

(Delete links)

To delete multiple links, either click on the check boxes next to individual items that you want to delete, 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’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …

(Bulk-delete links)

The selected links will be deleted …

(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 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 WP admin menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …

(Appearance – Widgets)

This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.

You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of your widget sections and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …

(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to your WordPress widget bar)

The Links widget provides various options. You can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget options)

You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This allows you to create and feature a number of different lists of links throughout 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 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)

When you have finished setting up your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your link section will appear on your site’s sidebar …

(An example of how 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 help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on adding widgets here:

• How To Use Widgets

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filtering, searching, and sorting features.

Sort Your 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 your links)

Finding Links

Find links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …

(You can find your links using the search function)

Filtering Your Links

You can filter links by link categories …

(Filter your links by link 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 page)

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 would like 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 links.

Link Library

(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)

Download Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

The Link Library plugin gives you the ability to output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links with notes and descriptions …

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

This plugin can be used to create a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, 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 of your link collection that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more this WordPress plugin, go here:

• Link Library Plugin

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

Go here for a detailed article on adding HTML links into your WordPress content:

• Using The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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