As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other websites or blogs 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.”

You can add a link section using the Links menu in your WordPress Dashboard. These links will display on your website once you add the Links widget.

Before the release of v 3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …

Before …

(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v.3.5)

After …

(Post v3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)

If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 and updated your installation, then the Link Manager would be 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 dashboard, you can add it via a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

You can use this plugin to display the Links Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of code 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

Plugin Installation

To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:

In your WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then 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 installing it …

Once the plugin is activated, a ‘Links’ item will be displayed on the dashboard menu …

(Links management menu section)

Configuring The Plugin

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

Link Categories

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

(Links Menu – Link Categories)

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

Type in information into the following sections:

• Name: What you type in this field will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
• Slug: The slug is the URL part of your 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.

after entering your information, click Add New Link Category …

(Link Categories)

The link category will now show in the table …

(Link Categories page)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category)

You may want to change this to something that your visitors can understand. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …

(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)

To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Quick Edit)

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

(Editing the default link category)

Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Partners’ etc).

Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …

(You can add/edit the category description)

Add your link category description field and click Update …

(Edit Link Category area)

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

After configuring your link categories, you can add new links.

How To Add Links

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

(Links Menu – Add New)

This takes you to the ‘Add New Link’ page …

(Add New Link page)

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

(Add New Link button)

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

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter your link details in this section …

(Name, Web Address, Description section – Add New Link screen)

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name here.
• Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of the link category name. It must all 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.

Categories & Target

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

(Categories & Target – Add New Link)

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

Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where the link should open when clicked on by visitors:

• _blank means that a new, separate window will open up in their web browser to display the content associated with the link.
• _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website 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. Don’t worry about 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 …

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

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Darsh Anderson and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and your links will still work. 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, type nofollow into this field.

To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

(Advanced area – Add New Link screen)

The Advanced section fields are as follows:

• Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add an image URL and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
• RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed can be displayed next to your link.
• 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).

Type in your information in the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.

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 save your new link)

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

(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)

Making a link private allows you to add a link and then toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want a link to display during certain periods and hide it after it’s no longer required) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have added, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu …

(WP Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser. The list of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …

(Links screen)

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

(Links table – Screen Options)

Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …

(Show/hide links)

Editing Your Links

To edit links, click on Links > All Links in the main admin menu to bring up your list of links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

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

(Editing links)

Change the link …

(Edit Link page)

After you’re done editing your link, you can:

• Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to 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 list if it’s no longer required …

(Update Link button)

Deleting Your Links

To delete a link, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu …

(Links Menu – All Links)

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

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all your links at once.

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

(Deleting your links)

To delete a number of links at once, either click on the checkboxes next to individual items that you would like deleted, 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)

Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …

(Bulk-delete links)

The links you have selected will be removed …

(links deleted message)

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 make links display on your website or blog.

Links Widget

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …

(Appearance Menu – Widgets)

You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.

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 in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want the links to show up …

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

The Links widget offers a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …

(Link widget - settings)

You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you create and display link lists on your site …

(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

Display a list of items for a specific category …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget settings – Sorting options)

After setting up your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should show up immediately on your sidebar, footer or wherever you place the links widget in …

(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 more help using widgets? We have written a detailed article about widgets. For more details:

• How To Add Widgets To WordPress

Link Manager – Additional Information

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

Sorting Links Function

To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sort links function)

Search Links

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

(Find links)

Filter Links Function

You can filter links by categories …

(Filtering links by category)

You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the links in the ‘Links’ column …

(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)

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

(Links filtered by category)

Additional Link 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer links, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link Library Plugin)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

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

(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)

This useful plugin creates a page on your web site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more about using this powerful plugin, go here:

• Link Library

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.

We have written a detailed article about adding HTML links to your WordPress posts. For more details, go here:

• Using The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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