As you continue to learn more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of links 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 a links section to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager appeared in the WordPress admin menu until the release of WP v3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)
If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v 3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you have previously used it.
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 WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
This plugin displays the built-in Links menu on your WordPress dashboard, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code to WordPress 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 this plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WordPress admin menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will show up on your WP navigation menu …
(WordPress links menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before you start adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign the link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the main navigation menu …
(WP Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category name. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when creating a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to site visitors. 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 ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Edit the link category)
In our example, the category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s insert 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)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update finished to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many link categories as your site requires.
After configuring your link categories, you can being adding your links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, go to the admin menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
This takes you to the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address, Description fields – Add New Link)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their browser to display the content associated with the link. Your visitor will be able to see the link information without leaving your page
- _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 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) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Harry Larsson and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. 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 defines a 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’ attributes using spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following:
- 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 can be displayed next to your link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
- Rating: You can 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 Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
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 …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want links to display during certain periods and hide them afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all your links, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your web browser. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To display additional columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Show/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Links
To modify links in the Link Manager, go to your navigation menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your link information)
Make changes to the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your link table if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To remove links, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser.
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 that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the checkbox next to every item that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
All the links you have selected will be removed …
(Deleted links message)
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 display links on your website.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your dashboard menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want your links section to display …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress widget bar using drag & drop)
The Links widget offers a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can also add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This allows you to add and feature link sections throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sort by options)
Once you are done setting up your links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will show up immediately on your site …
(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.
Need more help with widgets? Go here to learn more about widgets:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filter, sort, and search functionality.
Sorting Links
To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort your links)
Finding Links Function
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(Search your links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link category …
(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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website or blog, or if you would like 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)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your site containing all the link categories in your Links section, 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 that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to external websites in WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article about creating HTML links in WordPress. To learn more, go here:
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group