As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar area 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.”
You can manage a set of links using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will display on your blog if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WP Links Feature – pre version 3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If your website had a previously active Links Manager section, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used the Links Manager feature, however, or if your WP installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not display 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 feature is not visible when you log into your WP dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the default Links feature on your WP dashboard, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of 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 this plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WP dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, a ‘Links’ item will get added to your WP admin menu …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding any new links. This way, you can assign 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 choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit of your link category. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories page)
Your category details will display in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when creating a 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 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 display under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the 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 category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Resources’ etc).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update when finished …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process and add as many link categories as your site requires.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To create a new link, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will load in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Addressand Description section)
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: What you enter in this field displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address 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)
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link screen)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create 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 you want your link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a separate browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new site 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then just ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN))
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 Nicole Fields and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and 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 lets you specify 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, type nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, start, help, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen lets you specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave the fields in this section empty unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link page)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 link’s RSS feed can 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 want 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 are not essential for links to work.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, go to the WP admin menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will display in your browser. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To display additional columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – List of links)
Show/hide information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Your Link Information
To edit a link, go to your dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your list of links …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your link information)
Edit your link …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The selected links will be deleted …
(Link deletion notification)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to display your links on your website.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the main admin menu …
(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your web browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …
(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to a widgetized area)
The Links widget provides a number of settings. You can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - options)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and display various links throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Display a list of links for a specific category …
(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)
After configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will display on your sidebar, footer or any widgetized area you add the links widget to …
(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 help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about configuring widgets here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sort, filter, and search functions.
Sorting Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting your links)
Find Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(Find your links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter your links by category)
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)
This brings up a list of all links grouped 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 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 your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to display a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin site.)
This plugin creates a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links area, and 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 for your links 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 in your WordPress sidebar menu.
To learn more about how to easily add links to your WordPress posts and pages, refer to this article:
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