As you continue to learn more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar is often referred to 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 and manage external hyperlinks to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WordPress Links Feature – pre v.3.5)
After …
(Links – no longer included in the WordPress menu after WordPress v.3.5)
If your website or blog had the Links Manager installed, then it will still be available when your site upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your site is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not be displayed on your 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 the Links feature is not visible when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
Use this plugin to display the default Link Manager, 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 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the one 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 Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WordPress admin area, select 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 …
Locate the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, the ‘Links’ functionality will be restored to the navigation menu area …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before you start adding links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug displays in the 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 a link category description. (Optional)
Click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories page)
The category details will display in the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when creating a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your readers. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the default link category name)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, click on Links > Add New in your dashboard menu …
(Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO 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 your link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse.
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category link.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how your link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate browser window will open up to display the information for that link. This allows your visitors to access the link information without leaving your site
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your 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 just ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section 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 to the linked person. For example, if you work with Tyler Fields and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and your links will still work. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links 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 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced section – Add New Link)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 RSS feed associated with the link will be displayed next to your 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 want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you tick Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have created, go to the dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page. The Links screen displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To view or hide columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Display/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit links, click on Links > All Links in your WP admin menu to bring up the links screen …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Change the link fields …
(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 view your link and check that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your list if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, go to your navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the check box 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 remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The links will be removed …
(links deleted notice)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to set up 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 Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your web browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of the widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links to display …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area using drag and drop)
The Links widget provides various options. For example, you can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you add and feature various links on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
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)
After configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links should now 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? We have written a comprehensive article about configuring widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with sorting, searching, and filtering functionality.
Sorting Your Links
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 …
(You can sort links)
Searching Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find links)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering links by link categories)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the 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 site, or if you intend to add a page containing a list of links 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, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin allows you to output a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your website containing all the link categories in your Links area, plus all links listed in 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 links that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more this handy plugin, visit the plugin site:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress sidebar.
We have written a comprehensive article about how to easily add HTML links to WordPress posts and pages. For more details:
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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)