As you continue to learn more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar 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.”
The Links Manager lets you easily add external hyperlinks to a widget-ready theme.
Before the release of WP version 3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Manager – pre v 3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager feature – no longer shown in WordPress after WordPress v3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Link Manager would have been 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 you can’t see a Links item on your main menu when you log into your WP admin area, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
The Link Manager plugin restores the Link Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the plugin had not been updated for a while, 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 Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WP administration area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will show up in your admin menu area …
(Links management menu section)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding any new links. This way, when adding 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 your admin menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the link category. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
When finished, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default link category name to something better suited to your business. 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 …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the default link category name)
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), and click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site requires.
After you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, choose Links > Add New in the admin menu …
(Links – Add New)
This takes you to the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section is where you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Address, Description fields)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type in this field displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the 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 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 the new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add 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 where the link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new, separate window will open up in their web browser to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website 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. Don’t worry about 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))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Iris 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 the links defined on your site 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 is used to define 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, start, index, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link page – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- 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 will display 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 would like 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 for links to work.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(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 would like a link to display during certain times and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the WP dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your web browser. The table of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Your Links
To edit links, go to the main admin menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Edit the link details …
(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 check that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the main navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to each link that you want 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)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
Your 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, let’s show you how to display links on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in the dashboard menu …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to your sidebar)
The Links widget provides various options. For example, you can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget options)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you create and display different links throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
After setting up your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links will display on your 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? If you want to learn more about using widgets, see this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, search, and filter functionality.
Sort Your Links
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 easily sort your links)
Finding Links Function
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(You can easily find your links using the search function)
Filter Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering links by link categories)
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 category 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)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your website or blog, 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin lets you publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, 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 of your links that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more this great plugin, visit the plugin site:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to external websites in WordPress.
We have also written a detailed article on inserting hyperlinks into your WordPress content here:
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