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

A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or pages displayed 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 easily add and manage links to your WordPress sidebar section (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.

Prior to the release of WordPress v3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v.3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …

Before …

(The Link Manager feature – part of the menu until the release of WP version 3.5)

After …

(The Link Manager is no longer included in the WordPress menu after WP v3.5)

If you have had an earlier version than v.3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Link Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your WP installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be displayed on the 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 the Links item is not displayed when you log into your WP admin area, you can add it by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

Use this plugin to display the Links menu on your WordPress dashboard, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.

Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code 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 this plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)

Plugin URL

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

Description

This plugin recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Installing Link Manager

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

In the WordPress administration menu, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – 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 area and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

After you have activated the plugin, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ section on your WP dashboard menu …

(WordPress links management menu section)

Setting Up Link Manager

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

Link Categories

To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your dashboard menu …

(Links – Link Categories)

This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.

Enter information into the following fields:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug appears in the SEO friendly URL 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.

When finished, click Add New Link Category to save …

(Link Categories)

Your new category will display in the list …

(Link Categories)

Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating 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 your visitors can relate to. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be listed under the new category name …

(we recommend changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)

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

(Editing the default link category)

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 the Update link Category button …

(Update Link Category)

In our example, we’ve replaced the category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

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 link category description field and click Update when done …

(Edit Link Category screen)

Repeat the above process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.

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

How To Add Links

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

(WP Links – Add New)

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

(Add New Link screen)

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

(Links screen – Add New Link button)

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

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section lets you enter details about your link …

(Name, Web Address& Description section)

Enter the following information:

• Name: Whatever you type in this field will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
• Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL bit of the link category. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for the link …

(Add New Link – Categories & Target)

In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create 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 the link should open when a visitor clicks on it:

• _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a separate browser window will open up to display the content for that link. This lets your visitors 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 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 ignore this option.

Link Relationship XFN

This area provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link page)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Anna Schwartz and you link to her blog, you would probably tick 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 sites 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 the 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.

To learn more about XFN, visit this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section lets you specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields empty unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings)

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 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 display next to the link.
• Notes: Add notes about the link in this section for your own internal reference.
• Rating: You can add a rating score to the link if you would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).

Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.

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

(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)

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

(Make links private by checking the box)

Making links private lets you add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them when not required) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To see a list of all your links, select Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu …

(Links – All Links)

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

(Links table)

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

(Screen Options – List of links)

Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …

(Hide or show – List of links)

Editing Your Links

To modify a link, go to the main navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your links page …

(Links – All Links)

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

(Editing your links)

Edit your link details …

(Edit Link screen)

After editing the link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open in a new window),
• Click Delete to remove the link if you no longer require it …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

How To Delete Links

To delete a link, go to the dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ screen will load in your web browser.

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

To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link you want removed and click Delete …

(Deleting links)

To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check boxes next to individual items that you want to remove, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Delete multiple links)

Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …

(Links: bulk-delete function)

All the links you have selected will be deleted …

(links deleted notification)

Plugin Usage

Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your site.

Links Widget

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

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

(WordPress 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 your widget bars and drop it wherever you want the links section to display …

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

The Links widget provides a number of settings. For example, 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 add as many link widgets to your sidebar as you want. This lets you create and display link sections throughout your site …

(You can 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 rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …

(Link widget settings – Sort by options)

When you have finished setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section will show up immediately on your sidebar menu …

(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 with widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about using widgets. For more info, see this article:

• How To Add And Configure WordPress Widgets In Your Sidebar

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with search, sort, and filter functionality.

Sorting 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 black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sorting links function)

Find Links

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

(Searching links)

Filtering Links Function

You can filter links by link category …

(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 brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …

(Links filtered by link category)

Links – Additional Options

If you plan to add a lot of links to your website, or if you would like 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 your links, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link Library)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

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

(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)

This plugin creates a page on your site containing a list of all of 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 of your links that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.

For more details about using this plugin, visit the plugin website:

• Link Library Plugin For WordPress

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in WordPress.

We have written a detailed article on adding hyperlinks to WordPress posts & pages. Go here to learn more about this:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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