As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or blogs 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.”
You can manage a blogroll using the Links menu in your WordPress Dashboard. These links will then display on your site if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WordPress Links Menu – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you were using the Links feature in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when your WordPress installation upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your installation of WordPress 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 Manager is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
You can use this plugin to display the Links feature on your WP dashboard, 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 restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the plugin had not been updated for some time, 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 – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, do the following:
From your WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
Once you’ve activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ item is added to your WP navigation menu area …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring The Plugin
Before you start adding new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your WP navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears in the URL of the link category. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
The category details will now show in the table …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this default link category name to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, 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 better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
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), then click on Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, the category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category 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 …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update finished to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many link categories as your site needs.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can add your links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description area – Add New Link page)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address 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 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 adding your link details, select a Category and Target for your link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 how you want your link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a new web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new website 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link screen)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Sue Smith 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 of 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, help, start, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave the fields in this section empty unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Add New Link page – Advanced section)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of your image 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 display next to the 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).
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 update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want the link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view a list of all the links you have created, choose Links > All Links in your admin menu …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your browser. The Links table displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view or hide options in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Show/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Hide or display – List of links)
How To Edit Link Information
To modify links in the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu to bring up your list of links …
(WP Links – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing links)
Edit your link information …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To remove a link, click on Links > All Links in your dashboard menu …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check box next to each link 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 …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links notification)
Using The Link Manager 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 links on your site.
Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the main navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your web browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the widget sections and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget includes various configurable 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 …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This allows you to create and display links throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
Once you are done setting up the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will show on your sidebar, footer or any widgetized area you place the links widget in …
(An example of how 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 for a detailed article on widgets:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with searching, filtering, and sorting functions.
Sort Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Search Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(You can easily search your links with the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering your links by categories)
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 screen)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional 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 a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin gives you the ability to publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your site containing all the link categories in your Links section, 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 of your link collection that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Go here to learn more this great plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites and pages in WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article on creating links in WordPress posts. For more details, go here:
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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)