As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other websites or pages that display on your sidebar menu 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 blogroll using the Links menu in your WP Dashboard. These links will display on your blog once you add the Links widget.

Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v.3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …

Before …

(WP Links Menu – pre version 3.5)

After …

(The Links Manager – no longer displayed in WordPress after WP v3.5)

If you have used an earlier version than v.3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not appear on the 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 you can’t see a Links item on the main menu when you log into your WordPress admin area, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager Plugin)

Plugin URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager

Plugin Description

The Link Manager plugin restores the built-in Link Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/

Description Of Plugin

Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WordPress Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

Installing The Plugin

To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:

From the WordPress dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …

Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin …

After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will get added to the admin menu area …

(WordPress links management menu section)

Plugin Setup

Before you start adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign the link to link categories you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a new link category, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …

(Links – Link Categories)

You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug is the web address bit 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.

after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save …

(Link Categories screen)

Your link category will be added to the list …

(Link Categories)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a 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 better suited to your business. 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 …

(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name 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 the Update link Category button …

(Edit the default link category name)

In our example, the category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link under the category name …

(Link category description)

Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …

(Edit Link Category screen)

Repeat this process and add as many link categories as your site requires.

After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can being adding new links.

Adding Links

To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the navigation menu …

(Links Menu – Add New)

The ‘Add New Link’ screen will display in your browser …

(Add New Link page)

You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …

(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 Address, Description section – Add New Link)

Enter information into the following sections:

• Name: Enter the link category name here.
• Slug: The slug appears in the search-engine friendly URL 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. (Optional)

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Categories & Target)

In the Categories section, select a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.

Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where the link should open when clicked on by visitors:

• _blank means that a separate web browser window will open up to display the information for that link. Your visitor can see the link information without leaving your site
• _none means that when visitors click on the 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) section)

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 Aalia Smith and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all your links will still work. XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some sites and search engines that use this information.

rel – This field specifies the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute is used to define the 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, start, index, help, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.

To learn more about XFN, visit this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section lets you 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 fields)

The Advanced section fields are as follows:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add an image URL 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 will display next to your links.
• Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
• Rating: Add a rating score to the link if you would like 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 select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Links section …

(Make your links private)

Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them afterwards) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view a list of all your links, go to your WP admin menu and click on Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ screen. The Links page displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …

(Table of links)

Tip: To view or hide information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …

(Links screen – Screen Options)

Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …

(Show/hide links)

Editing Links

To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your links page …

(Links Menu – All Links)

Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …

(Editing link information)

Edit your link details …

(Edit Link screen)

After editing the link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

How To Remove Links

To delete a link, choose Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu …

(Links – All Links)

You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.

To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …

(Deleting 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 main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Deleting multiple links)

Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …

(Bulk-deletion of links)

The links you have selected will be deleted …

(Deleted links notification)

Using The 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 display links on your website or blog.

Links Widget

Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.

To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in the WP dashboard menu …

(Appearance Menu – Widgets)

The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your web browser.

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 the widget sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …

(Adding a links widget to your widget bar using drag and drop)

The Links widget offers various options. You can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget settings)

You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to add and display specific link sections on your site …

(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)

You can create and display a list of items for a specific category …

(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)

You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …

(Link widget settings – Sorting options)

When you have finished setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should show on your site’s sidebar menu …

(An example of how 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? We have written a comprehensive article about configuring widgets here:

• How To Use WordPress Widgets

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with search, filter, and sort features.

Sort Links Function

You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sort links)

Search Links Function

You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ button …

(Find your links)

Filtering Links

You can filter links by link category …

(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 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 add a lot of links to your website, or if you would like to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add links on your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links.

Link Library

(Link Library WordPress Plugin)

Plugin URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/

Plugin Description

This plugin lets you publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …

(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)

This useful plugin creates a page on your website containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, and 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 become aware of additions to your link library.

Visit the plugin site for more information about using this plugin:

• Link Library WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to external sites in WordPress.

We have written a detailed article on adding HTML links in WordPress posts. Go here to learn more about this:

• How To Use The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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