As you continue to learn more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or pages displayed on your sidebar.
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 links to your WordPress sidebar menu (e.g. a “Recommended Resources” section) using widgets.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Menu – pre v3.5)
After …
(Links – no longer shown in the admin menu after WP v.3.5)
If you have had an earlier version than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links Manager feature, however, or if your WordPress site installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not display 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 the Links feature is not visible when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
You can use this plugin to display the default Links feature on your WordPress dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WordPress admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will show on your dashboard menu …
(Links management menu)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, select Links > Link Categories in the WP admin menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of the link category name. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category for 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 your visitors can understand. This not only makes 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 change the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Change 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 ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Items’ etc).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process and add as many different link categories as your site needs.
After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can start adding your links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, go to the admin menu and choose Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Add New Link screen – Name, Web Addressand Description fields)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target area – Add New Link page)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where you want the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
- _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 web 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Aaradhya Cooper and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. 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 specifies 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, help, start, index, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced fields)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- 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 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 the links.
- 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).
Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not essential.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want a link to display during certain periods and hide it afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have created, go to the WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your browser. The Links page displays a list of all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To show or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Show/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Links
To modify a link in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your navigation menu to bring up the list of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing your link information)
Make changes to the link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and make sure that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your list …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page 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 that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkbox next to each item 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’ pulldown menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The selected links will be deleted …
(Deleted links notification)
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 or blog.
Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget bars and drop it wherever you want the links section to display …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu using drag & drop)
The Links widget offers various options. For example, you can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and feature specific a number of links on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display a specific list of items …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring your links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section will show on your site’s sidebar menu …
(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 help with widgets? Go here to learn more about widgets:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sort, search, and filter functionality.
Sort Links Function
You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Find Your Links
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(Finding links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filter 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 listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, or if you intend to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to 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 For WordPress)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to display a list of your link categories with a complete list of links with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your web site that contains all the link categories in your Links area, and 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 of your links so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites and pages in WordPress.
We have also created a detailed article on creating HTML links in WordPress posts here:
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie