As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or web pages displayed on your sidebar.
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 easily add external links to your sidebar (e.g. a “Recommended Resources” section) using a widget.
Before the release of v3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Link Manager section was hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Manager Feature – pre version 3.5)
After …
(Links – no longer shown in WordPress after WordPress v.3.5)
If you were using the Links feature in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when your site upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will become invisible – you will not see it 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 a Links section on your main menu when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to restore the Links Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. When we last 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WordPress Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From your WordPress admin area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select 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 installing it …
After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section on your dashboard menu screen …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring The Plugin
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding any new links. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign your link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, select Links > Link Categories in the navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your web browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of the link category name. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
When done, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories)
The new category will display in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when creating a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something that will make sense to your blog readers. This will not only make 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 your visitors will relate to)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing the link category)
Replace 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 …
(Edit the default link category)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as you need.
After setting up your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description)
Enter 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 is the search-engine friendly URL part of your link category. It must 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 with their mouse. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link screen)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create 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 how your link should open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a separate web browser window will open up to display the content for that link. Your visitor will be able to see the link information without leaving your site
- _none means that when visitors click 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))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Ananya Fields and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with 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 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
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) …
(Advanced section – Add New Link)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, 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 be displayed next to the links.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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 Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all your links, choose Links > All Links in the WP dashboard menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your web browser. The Links page displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To show or hide information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Links table – Screen Options)
Display/hide fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Hide or show – List of links)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit links, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu to bring up the links screen …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing your link information)
Make changes to the link fields …
(Edit Link page)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Links
To delete a link, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – 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 links individually, hover over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the main 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 your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
Your links will be removed …
(Deleted links message)
Plugin Usage
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 links on your website.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen in your web browser.
You will notice 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 your widget sections and drop it wherever you would like your links to display …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget provides various settings. You can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want 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 a number of different link lists throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ drop-down menu …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your 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 using widgets? Go here if you want to learn more configuring widgets:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sorting, filtering, and searching functionality.
Sort Links Function
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort your links)
Searching Links Function
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(Search links)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filter links by link category)
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 displays a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website or blog, or if you intend 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 links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you display a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your web site that contains a list of all of 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 for your links that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about using this useful plugin, visit the plugin site:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a detailed article about how to easily create links in your WordPress posts & pages. For more info, see this article:
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