As you continue to discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar menu is sometimes referred to 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 and manage links to a widget-ready theme.
Before the release of WordPress v 3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature – part of the menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager – no longer displayed in the WordPress admin menu after WordPress v 3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you’ve 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 backend, you can add it by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to display the built-in Links menu on your WordPress dashboard, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing 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
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WP administration area, select 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 results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section on your admin menu screen …
(Links management menu)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding new links. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign the link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you type here is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of the link category name. Only use lower case letters without 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 …
(Link Categories)
The link category will now show in the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding 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 users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing the link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Links’ etc).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the navigation menu …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description fields – Add New Link)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you type here displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit of your link category. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target area – Add New Link page)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
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 a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a new, separate web browser window will open up 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 site or page will load in your browser window instead.
- _top opens the link 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 …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Salinger Schwartz 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 your links will work just fine. XFN makes your links 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 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.
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 leave these fields blank unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Advanced fields)
The Advanced link settings section contains 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 located and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed can be displayed next to your links.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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 your new link information, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you tick Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see a list of all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table. The table of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Your Links
To edit a link, select Links > All Links in your dashboard menu to bring up the table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Change your link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save 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 table …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To delete a link, select Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all of your links at once.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you want to remove, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Link deletion message)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display links on your website or blog.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your browser.
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 bars and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to your WordPress widget bar)
The Links widget provides a number of settings. For example, you can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar as you want. This lets you create and display a number of different links sorted by categories on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pulldown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sort by options)
After configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links will show on your sidebar, footer or any widget-ready area you have added the widget to …
(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 more help using widgets? Go here if you would like to learn more about configuring widgets:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filter, search, and sort functionality.
Sorting Your Links
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links function)
Find Links
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(You can easily search links with the search function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter your links by 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website or blog, or if you would like 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 look at 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
Link Library lets you output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin site.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your web site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, plus all links listed in 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 be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Visit this website to learn more about using this great plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to external websites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a comprehensive article about adding hyperlinks to WordPress posts. For more details, go here:
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