As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar section.

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 and manage external links to your sidebar menu (e.g. a “Top 5 Resources” section) using widgets.

Before the release of v.3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …

Before …

(The Link Manager feature displayed in the admin menu until the release of WP v3.5)

After …

(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager)

If you have had an earlier version than v 3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Link Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your website is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not appear on the 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 you can’t see the Links feature when you log into your WP dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Description

This plugin displays the default Links menu on your WordPress dashboard, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code to your installation in order 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 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/

Description

This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Plugin Installation

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

In your WordPress administration menu, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins – Add New)

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

Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after installation …

Once you’ve activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will be added to your WP sidebar menu …

(Links management menu)

Configuring The Plugin

Before adding new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to a link category you have already created.

Link Categories

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

(Links – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ page will load in your browser.

Type in the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description.

Click Add New Link Category to save …

(Link Categories)

The link category will be added to the table …

(Link Categories screen)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . 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 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 …

(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)

To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Quick Edit)

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), then click on Update Link Category …

(Update Link Category)

Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ 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 …

(Link category description)

Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …

(Edit Link Category page)

Repeat the above process and add as many new link categories as your site needs.

After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can start adding your links.

How To Add New Links

To create a new link, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …

(Links – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your browser …

(Add New Link page)

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

(Links – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page has several sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter details about your link in this section …

(Name, Web Addressand Description fields)

Enter information into the following sections:

• Name: Enter the category name here.
• Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the link category. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target section)

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 link.

Next, 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 clicked on by visitors:

• _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a new, separate window will open up in their browser to display the information for that link. This lets your visitors 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 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. Ignore 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) section – Add New Link)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with George Jones and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all of your links will still work. XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some websites 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 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, start, help, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.

To learn more about XFN, visit this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields blank unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced fields – Add New Link)

The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:

• Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of your image and make sure that your 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: 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 your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …

(Click on Add Link to save your new link)

Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …

(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)

Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To see all the links you have added, go to the WP admin menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser. The Links page displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …

(List of links)

Tip: To display additional options in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …

(Table of links – Screen Options)

Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …

(Show/hide – Table of links)

Editing Your Link Information

To modify links in the Link Manager, go to your WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …

(WP Links Menu – All Links)

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

(Editing link information)

Make any changes you want to your link details …

(Edit Link page)

After editing the link, you can:

• Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to make sure 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 …

(Update Link button)

How To Delete Links

To remove links from the Link Manager, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ screen.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.

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

(Deleting your links)

To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check box next to each item that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Delete multiple links)

Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …

(Bulk-deletion of links)

The selected links will be removed …

(links deleted message)

Plugin Usage

Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to display links on your website.

Using The Links Widget

Installing the Links 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)

The ‘Widgets’ page will display in your browser.

You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links to display …

(Add a links widget to your sidebar using drag & drop)

The Links widget offers various 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 menu …

(Link widget options)

You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and feature various link sections throughout your site …

(Add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)

Display a list of links for a specific category …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget settings – Sorting options)

When you have finished configuring your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links will appear on your website or blog’s 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 help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets. To learn more about this go here:

• Adding And Configuring Widgets On The Blog Sidebar

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sorting, searching, and filtering features.

Sort Your Links

You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sort links)

Find Your Links

Find links using the ‘Search Links’ button …

(Finding links)

Filter Your Links

You can filter links by link categories …

(Filter 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 category 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 link category)

Links – Additional Options

If you plan to add lots of links to your site, 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer links.

Link Library

(Link Library WordPress Plugin)

Download Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

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

(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)

This plugin can be used to create a page on your website that contains all the link categories in your Links section, plus all links listed in 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.

Visit the plugin website to learn more about the benefits of using this plugin:

• Link Library Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.

We have written a detailed article on creating hyperlinks in WordPress posts & pages. Go here to learn more:

• How To Use The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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