As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across 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 and manage links to your WordPress sidebar menu (e.g. a “Top 3 Resources” section) using widgets.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Links Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(Links appeared in the WordPress menu until the release of WordPress v.3.5)
After …
(Links – excluded from WordPress after WP version 3.5)
If your blog had a previously active Links Manager section, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used the Links Manager feature, however, or if your site is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be displayed on your 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 visible when you log into your WP admin area, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the default Link Manager, 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 template code to your installation to restore the hidden feature. The last time we checked, this 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From your WP admin 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 results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After the plugin has been activated, the ‘Links’ feature is restored to the admin menu …
(WordPress links management menu)
Configuring Link Manager
Before adding links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. 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 navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your browser.
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug appears in the URL of the 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. (Optional)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …
(Link Categories area)
The category details will be added to the table …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when creating a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this default link category name 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 …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the link category)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …
(Edit the link category name)
In our example, the link category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as you need.
After setting up your link categories, you can start adding your links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in the dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Address, Description fields – Add New Link)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug appears in the search-engine 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target section)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link 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 you want the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate web browser window will open up to display the information for that link. Your visitor will be able to access the link information without leaving your page
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit your site and a new site or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens the link 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Ramona Anderson and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Add New Link – Advanced fields)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is located 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 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 blank.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(You can make links private by checking the box)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to the main admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view additional information in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Hide or show – Table of links)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit links in the Link Manager, go to your dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing links)
Change your link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, go to your admin menu and click on Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, 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 a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to each item that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
All the links you have selected will be removed …
(Link deletion message)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your website.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP admin menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your web browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized area using drag & drop)
The Links widget offers various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and display several links on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category to display a specific list of items …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link ID, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring your links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should appear 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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on using widgets. To learn more, go here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, filtering, and sorting functions.
Sort Your Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting your links)
Finding Links Function
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(Search your links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter your links by category)
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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This displays a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to use links extensively on 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.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to output a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and 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 for your link collection that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.
We have also written a detailed article about inserting hyperlinks into WordPress 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)