As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other websites or web pages 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.”
The Links Manager lets you add external hyperlinks to your sidebar area (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.
Before the release of version 3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v.3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(Links appeared in the admin menu until the release of WP v3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will become invisible – 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 Link Manager is not visible when you log into your WP dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
You can use this plugin to display the default 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. 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links recreates the concept of 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 WP dashboard area, go to 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 …
Locate the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will get added to your dashboard menu area …
(Links menu section)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your WP admin menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the 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. (Optional)
When done, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories screen)
Your new category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something better suited to your business. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit 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 the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update when you’re done …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, go to the main admin menu and select Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links page …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address of the link category. It must all be in lowercase letters and contain no 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link. Your visitor will be able to see 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 browser window instead.
- _top opens the link 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 …
(Link Relationship (XFN) area – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Rachel Jenkins 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 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 defines 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, index, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link page)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:
- 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 will be displayed next to your links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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).
Enter information into 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 update your link settings)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all your links, choose Links > All Links in your WP admin menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your web browser. The Links page displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To display additional information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Links page – Screen Options)
Display/hide information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide – Links screen)
How To Edit Your Links
To modify links, go to the navigation menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your links)
Edit your link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box 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)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(links deleted 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 learn how to display your 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, go to your dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
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 active widget bars and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized area)
The Links widget includes a number of configurable options. You can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and feature multiple lists of links throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Display a list of links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sort by options)
After configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links should display on your sidebar, footer or whichever widget-ready area you add the links widget to …
(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 with widgets? To learn more about widgets, refer to this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using search, sort, and filter features.
Sorting Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort your links)
Finding Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Finding your links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering your links by link categories)
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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, or if you intend 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 URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to display a list of your link categories and a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
This plugin creates a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, 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 be made aware of additions to your link library.
Visit the plugin website to learn more this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.
Go here if you want to learn more how to easily insert links into your WordPress posts:
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