How To Add A Link Section To WordPress

Before the release of WordPress v3.5, Links were a core feature of WordPress. This tutorial shows you how to restore this feature to your site …

How To Add A WordPress Featured Links SectionAs you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar 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 add a links section to your sidebar (e.g. a “Recommended Resources” section) using widgets.

Useful Information

Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …

Before …

WordPress Links Manager - pre version 3.5

(Links – part of the WordPress menu until the release of WP v3.5)

After …

Links is no longer included in the WordPress menu after WordPress version 3.5

(Post v3.5 – no WP Links Manager)

If you’ve used an earlier version than v 3.5 and updated your installation, the Link Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve previously used it.

 

How To Add A Link Section To WordPress

Tip

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 admin area, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

Link Manager - WordPress Link Management Plugin

(Link Manager – WordPress Link Management Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager

Description Of Plugin

This plugin displays the Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing 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 some time, but it should still work fine. If you don’t want to use the Link Manager plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.

Simple Links

Simple Links - WordPress Link Management Plugin

(Simple Links)

Download URL

https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/

Description Of Plugin

Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

How To Install Link Manager

To install the Link Manager plugin on your site, follow these step-by-step instructions:

From the WP dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New

Plugins Menu - Add New

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter

Installing The Plugin

Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now

How To Install The Plugin

Activate the plugin …

Installing The Plugin

Once you have activated the plugin, WordPress adds a ‘Links’ section to the admin menu …

WordPress links menu section

(WordPress links menu section)

Setting Up Link Manager

Before adding links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, select Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard navigation menu …

Links - Link Categories

(WordPress Links – Link Categories)

You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.

Type in information into the following fields:

  • Name: Enter the link category name here.
  • 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.

When done, click Add New Link Category to save …

Link Categories

(Link Categories)

Your category details will be added to the list …

Link Categories

(Link Categories area)

Useful Information

Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

Default link category name

(Default link category name)

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 appear under the new category name …

Change the default 'blogroll' to something your visitors will understand

(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …

Editing the default link category

(Quick Edit)

Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …

Quick Edit

(Update Link Category)

Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Links’ etc).

Let’s 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

You can add/edit the category description

(Link category description)

Add your link category description field and click Update done to save your settings …

Edit Link Category screen

(Edit Link Category area)

Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site requires.

After configuring your link categories, you can being adding your links.

How To Add New Links

To add a new link, go to the WP admin menu and select Links > Add New

Links Menu - Add New

(WordPress Links – Add New)

This loads the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …

Add New Link page

(Add New Link page)

You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links page …

Links screen - Add New Link button

(Links screen – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section is where you enter details about your link …

Name, Web Address& Description area

(Name, Web Address, Description area – Add New Link)

Type in information into the following sections:

  • Name: Enter the category name.
  • Slug: The slug displays in the SEO friendly URL 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target

After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your link …

Categories & Target - Add New Link screen

(Categories & Target fields)

In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve 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 where you want your link to open when clicked on:

  • _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new browser window will open up to display the information for that link. This lets your visitors see the information without leaving your site
  • _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your browser window instead.
  • _top opens links at the top level of the frame system if you’re using frames. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN

This section provides some additional link functionality …

Link Relationship (XFN)

(Link Relationship (XFN) section)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Zane Schwartz and you link to his 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 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 specifies the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute defines 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’ keywords using spaces.

To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:

Advanced

The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

Add New Link - Advanced link settings

(Advanced link settings)

The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:

  • Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add an image URL 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 the links.
  • 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, as these fields are not essential.

When you have finished adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …

click on the Add Link button to save your new link

(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)

Useful Information

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 …

Private link checkbox

(You can make links private by checking the box)

Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …

Making links private toggles their visibility on and off

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view a list of all the links you have added, choose Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu …

Links - All Links

(Links – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ page in your web browser. The Links screen displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …

Links table

(Table of links)

Practical Tip

Tip: To view additional columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …

Links table - Screen Options

(Links table – Screen Options)

Enable/disable information on your table of links by ticking/unticking their check boxes …

Links page - Show/hide screen options

(Show/hide links)

Editing Link Information

To modify a link, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu to bring up the links screen …

Links Menu - All Links

(WP Links – All Links)

Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …

Editing your link information

(Editing link information)

Make changes to the link fields …

Edit Link screen

(Edit Link page)

After editing the link, you can:

  • Click on Update Link to save and update 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 delete the link from your table of links …

Edit Link: Update Link button

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

How To Delete Your Links

To remove links, choose Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu …

Links - All Links

(WP Links – All Links)

This takes you to the ‘Links’ screen.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all links at once.

To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link title that you want to remove and click on Delete

Deleting your links

(Deleting your links)

To delete a number of links at once, either click on the checkboxes next to individual items that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …

Deleting multiple links

(Delete multiple links)

Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …

Bulk-deletion of links

(Links: bulk-delete function)

Your selected links will be removed …

Link deletion notification

(Deleted links notification)

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 make links display on your site.

Using The Links Widget

The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.

To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP dashboard menu …

Appearance - Widgets

(Appearance – Widgets)

This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.

You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …

Links widget

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget bars and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …

Add a links widget to your WordPress sidebar using drag and drop

(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to your WordPress widget bar)

The Links widget offers various settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …

Link widget - configurable options

(Link widget - configurable settings)

You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and feature different link lists on your site …

You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars

(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)

Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pull-down menu …

Link widget settings - Select Link Category

(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)

You can sort links by Link rating, Link ID, Link title, or display links in Random order …

Link widget options - Sort by options

(Link widget options – Sort by options)

When you have finished setting up the links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links should display on your site …

An example of how links can be displayed on a sidebar

(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.

Tip

Need more help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about adding widgets. For more details, go here:

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, search, 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 …

Sort your links

(You can easily sort your links)

Searching Links Function

Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …

Searching your links

(Searching your links)

Filter Links

You can filter links by link category …

Filtering your links by category

(Filter your links by 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …

searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen

(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 category

(Links filtered by category)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to use links extensively on your website, 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links.

Link Library

Link Library Plugin

(Link Library WordPress Plugin)

Plugin URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/

Plugin Description

Link Library lets you display a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links with notes and descriptions …

Link Library links

(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)

Link Library creates 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. 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 of your link collection so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more about Link Library:

Adding A WordPress Links Section

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.

Tip

To learn more about adding HTML links to WordPress posts, refer to this article:

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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)