As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or blogs displayed on your sidebar menu.
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 links to a widgetized theme.
Prior to the release of WP version 3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WP Links Feature – pre v.3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version than 3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not appear on your 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 feature is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area, you can add it by installing 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 WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the default Links feature on your WordPress dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version 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 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WP dashboard menu, select 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 activation, a ‘Links’ item will be added to the admin menu area …
(WordPress links menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before adding new links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. This way, when adding 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 WP navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ page in your browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of your 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. (Optional)
Click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when creating 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 not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the default link category)
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 Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
After configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add New Links
To create a new link, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description fields – Add New Link)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: What you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug appears in the SEO friendly URL of the link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target fields – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, tick 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 radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a new, separate browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will leave 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 ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Charlotte Anderson and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. XFN makes your links 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 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:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced area)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of where the image is stored 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 can display next to the link.
- 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 are done 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 tick Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added, select Links > All Links in the WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – 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 table)
Tip: To show or hide fields in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Links table – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To edit a link in the Link Manager, go to the dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links page …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your links)
Make the changes you want to your link …
(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 (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, go to your WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(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 perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check boxes next to individual items that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Link deletion notification)
Using The Plugin
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 website.
Using The Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in the dashboard menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will display in your browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget bars and drop it wherever you would like your links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your widget bar using drag and drop)
The Links widget includes various configurable options. For example, you can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This allows you to add and display specific several link lists sorted by categories throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
You can add and display a list of items for a specific category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
After configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will show up immediately on your sidebar …
(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? Go here if you would like to learn more about configuring widgets:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filter, search, 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 little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort links)
Search Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Find your links)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter 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 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 link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your website or blog, or if you want 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to display a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your website containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, plus all links listed in 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 become aware of additions to your link library.
For more information about using this plugin, visit this website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article on inserting HTML links into your WordPress content. For more details, go here:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)