As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external sites or blogs that display on your sidebar menu.
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 link section using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will then display on your sidebar or footer once you add the Links widget.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(Links – part of the WordPress dashboard menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager feature is no longer included in WordPress after WordPress v.3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 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 menu section is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area, you can add it via a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin restores the built-in Link Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code to restore the hidden feature. When we last 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)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WordPress administration area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – 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 activation, a ‘Links’ item will be added to your WP dashboard menu area …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding new links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category. 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.
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something that your visitors can understand. 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 …
(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the default link category name)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘XYZ Sites’ etc).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can start adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Links screen – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Address& Description)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category. It must all 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target section)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create 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 a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a separate web browser window will open up to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new site 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 …
(Add New Link page – Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Savannah Jenkins and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with 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 the relationship 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced area)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- 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 link’s RSS feed can display next to the links.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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).
Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want a link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser. The Links screen displays a list of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To view or hide options in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Show/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Hide or display – Table of links)
Editing Your Links
To modify links, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(Links – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing links)
Change your link information …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, go to the dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will load in your web 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 title that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check boxes next to individual links that you want to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The selected links will be removed …
(Link deletion notice)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your website.
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 menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
You will notice 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 areas and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress widget bar)
The Links widget offers a number of configurable options. For example, you can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - options)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to create and display specific several link lists throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category …
(Link widget settings – 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)
After configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should show up immediately on your sidebar menu …
(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 using widgets? If you want to learn more about using widgets, see this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sort, filter, and search features.
Sorting Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links function)
Search Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(Find links)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering your links by 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 …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This displays a list of all links listed 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 page containing a list of links 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 Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin gives you the ability to output a list of your link categories and a complete list of links with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your website containing all the link categories in your Links area, 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 for your link collection so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
For more details about this WordPress plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a detailed article about adding HTML hyperlinks into WordPress posts & pages. For more details, go here:
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