As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.

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

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

Before …

(WordPress Links Menu – pre v.3.5)

After …

(Post v3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)

If you have used an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 and upgraded your installation, the Links Manager would have been 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 – you will not see it 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 section on your main menu when you log into your WP admin area, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager Plugin)

Download URL

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

Plugin Description

You can use this plugin to restore the built-in Links Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.

Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of 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 template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

Installing Link Manager

To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow these instructions:

From your WordPress admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins – Add New)

Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, 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 installing it …

After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will be added to the WP navigation menu area …

(Links management menu section)

Configuring Link Manager

We recommend setting up link categories first before adding new links. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign your link to a link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, select Links > Link Categories in the main dashboard navigation menu …

(Links – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your browser.

Type in the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug is the web address part of your link category name. Use only lowercase letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description.

after entering your information, click Add New Link Category …

(Link Categories)

The category details will now show in the list …

(Link Categories screen)

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …

(Default link category)

You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your visitors. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, 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 change the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …

(Edit the link category name)

Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on Update Link Category …

(Update Link Category)

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

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

(You can add/edit the category description)

Enter your link category description field and click Update when finished …

(Edit Link Category area)

Repeat this process to add as many link categories as you need.

Once you have configured your link categories, you can add your links.

How To Add Links

To create a new link, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Add New …

(Links Menu – Add New)

This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ page …

(Add New Link page)

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

(Links page – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes various sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

This section is where you enter details about your link …

(Name, Web Address& Description section – Add New Link)

Type in information into the following fields:

• Name: Enter the category name here.
• Slug: The slug is the web address bit of the link category. Only use lower case letters and do not include 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 with their mouse.

Categories & Target

After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …

(Add New Link – Categories & Target)

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

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 the link to open when clicked on:

• _blank means that a separate window will open up in their web browser to display the information associated with the link.
• _none means that when a visitor clicks on your 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) fields – Add New Link screen)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Alexander O’Malley and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will still work. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links more understandable to some sites 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 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.

You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

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 ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

(Advanced fields – Add New Link)

The Advanced link settings section includes the following:

• Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is stored and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
• RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link 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).

Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.

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 save your new link)

Note: If you tick Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …

(Make your links private)

Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain times and hide them when not required) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have created, choose Links > All Links in your admin menu …

(Links Menu – All Links)

The ‘Links’ page will load in your web browser. The Links table displays a list of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …

(List of links)

Tip: To view additional fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …

(Screen Options – Table of links)

Enable/disable information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …

(Show/hide – Links table)

Editing Your Link Information

To edit a link in the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu to bring up the list of links …

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …

(Editing link information)

Make any changes you want to your link fields …

(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 check that you have set up your link’s URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to remove the link from your list if it’s no longer required …

(Update Link button)

Deleting Links

To remove links, click on Links > All Links in the navigation menu …

(Links Menu – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all links at once.

To delete links individually, hover over the link title you want removed and click Delete …

(Delete links)

To delete multiple links, either tick the check box next to each link that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …

(Delete multiple links)

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

(Links: bulk-delete function)

Your selected links will be deleted …

(Link deletion notification)

Plugin Usage

Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display your links on your website.

Links Widget

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

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

(Appearance – Widgets)

This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen.

You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want the links to show up …

(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar using drag & drop)

The Links widget offers a number of options. For example, you can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …

(Link widget - configurable options)

You can add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This lets you add and feature a number of different link lists sorted by categories throughout your site …

(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

Display a list of items for a specific category …

(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget settings – Sorting options)

After configuring your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links will now appear on your website’s sidebar …

(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? We have written a detailed article on widgets. To learn more about this go here:

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, filtering, and sorting functions.

Sorting Links Function

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

(You can sort links)

Find Links

Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …

(Search links)

Filtering Your Links

You can filter links by link category …

(Filter links by link category)

You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the links in the ‘Links’ column …

(Search and filter 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)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to use links extensively on your site, or if you would like 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 links, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link Library WordPress Plugin)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library allows you to publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …

(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)

This plugin can be used to create a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 be made aware of additions to your link library.

Go here to learn more about this useful plugin:

• Link Library – WordPress Plugin

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

We have written a detailed article on how to insert hyperlinks into your WordPress content. Go here to learn more about this:

• How To Use The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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