As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites 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 feature lets you add and manage external links to your sidebar (e.g. a “We Use And Recommend” section) using a widget.
Before the release of WordPress version 3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress v.3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(The Links Manager – included in the WordPress menu until the release of WordPress v.3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager feature – no longer displayed in WordPress after WordPress v 3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v 3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, the Links 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 you can’t see the Link Manager section when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
Use this plugin to restore the default Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, do the following:
In the WordPress 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 results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will show in your sidebar menu area …
(Links management menu)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding any new links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, select Links > Link Categories in your WP navigation menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit of your link category name. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
When finished, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will now show in the table …
(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)
You may want to change this to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under the new category name …
(we recommend changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat the above process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add your links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, go to the navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Addressand Description)
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: What you enter in this field will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the URL part of the link category. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a 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
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link screen)
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 link.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where your link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a separate browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit 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. Ignore this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) fields)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Maria Cooper and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and 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 the relationship 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ attributes with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
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) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, 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 will 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 would like 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 have finished 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 select Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private lets you add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, choose Links > All Links in your WP dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen. The Links screen displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view additional columns in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Links page – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit links in the Link Manager, go to your admin menu and select Links > All Links to bring up your links page …
(Links – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your links)
Change your link information …
(Edit Link page)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your list …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, go to the main admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link that you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkbox next to every item that you want to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
Your links will be removed …
(links deleted message)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display links on your site.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Appearance – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your widget bars and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget offers a number of settings. You can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget settings)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you create and feature a number of different lists of links on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
You can create and display 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 options – Sort by options)
When you have finished setting up the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will appear on your website …
(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? To learn more about using widgets, refer to this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filter, sort, and search functions.
Sorting Links
To sort links, hover your 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 sort links)
Searching Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Searching links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering links by categories)
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 listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your site, or if you would like to add a ‘Links’ page 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 your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your site containing all 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 link collection that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Go here for more details about using this useful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to your WordPress sidebar.
We have written a comprehensive article about adding HTML links in your WordPress posts. For more details, go here:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now