As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites 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 easily add and manage external hyperlinks to a widgetized theme.
Before the release of version 3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of version 3.5, the Link Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WP Links Menu – pre v3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature – excluded from the WordPress menu after WordPress v3.5)
If you were using the Link Manager in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when your site upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your WordPress site installation is new, then this function will become invisible – you won’t see it 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 you can’t see the Link Manager section when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin displays the built-in Links Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to WordPress 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WP dashboard area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section is added to the sidebar menu …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding links. This way, you can assign any new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your navigation menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field will display as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the search-engine friendly URL of the link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default link category name to something that your visitors can understand. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the default link category name)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Edit the link category name)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process to add as many link categories as your site needs.
Once you have finished setting up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links screen …
(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 …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description section)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Whatever you enter here is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit 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 a link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target fields)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
Also, 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 clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link. Your visitor can see the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit your site and a new site 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. 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN) section)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Anaya Jenkins and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section 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 is used to define a relationship 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, help, index, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
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) …
(Add New Link – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the image URL and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed will be displayed next to the link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view all your links, go to the WP admin menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To display additional options in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Links
To edit a link, go to the main navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the links page …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing link information)
Edit your link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and make sure that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table of links …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, go to the dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will load in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all links.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkbox next to each link that you would like to delete, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
Your links will be removed …
(Link deletion notice)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your website.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress 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 the widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want the links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides various configurable options. For example, you can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and display specific multiple link categories throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sort by options)
When you have finished setting up your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links will display on your website …
(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? If you want to learn more about configuring widgets, refer to this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sort, search, and filter functionality.
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 little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort links)
Finding Links
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(Searching links function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(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 search for link categories, or click on the category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
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 a lot of links to your site, or if you would like 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 For WordPress)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to output a list of your link categories with a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)
This plugin creates a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, and all links defined for these categories. Additionally, 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 become aware of additions to your link library.
For more details about the benefits of using this plugin, visit this website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article about how to insert HTML links into your WordPress posts. For more info, see this article:
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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)