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

In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar is often 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.”

You can display a featured links section on your blog using the Link Manager plugin.

Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress version 3.5, the Link Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …

Before …

(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v.3.5)

After …

(The Link Manager is no longer part of WordPress after WP v3.5)

If your website had the Links Manager installed, then it will still be available when your installation upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not display on your 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 Manager is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

You can use this plugin to restore the default Links Manager, 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 your installation 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 this plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links – Links Manager Plugin For WordPress)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WP Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Installing The Plugin

To install the Link Manager plugin, do the following:

In the WordPress administration area, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins – Add New)

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

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

Activate the plugin after installation …

After activating the plugin, the ‘Links’ function is restored to your WP sidebar menu area …

(WordPress links menu section)

Plugin Setup

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

Link Categories

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

(Links – Link Categories)

This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.

Enter information into the following fields:

• Name: Whatever you enter here will display as the link category name.
• Slug: The slug displays in the web address of the link category name. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description.

Click Add New Link Category …

(Link Categories page)

Your category details will display in the list …

(Link Categories screen)

Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category for a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category)

You may want to change this to something that your visitors can understand. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be listed under the new category name …

(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)

To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …

(Quick Edit)

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

(Quick Edit)

Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Items’ etc).

Let’s insert a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …

(You can add/edit the category description)

Enter your link category description field and click Update …

(Edit Link Category page)

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

After configuring your link categories, you can being adding your links.

Adding New Links

To create a new link, click on Links > Add New in the main dashboard navigation menu …

(Links Menu – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Link’ page 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 page …

(Links – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

This section lets you enter details about your link …

(Name, Web Address, Description)

Type in information into the following fields:

• Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug displays in the SEO friendly URL of the link category name. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your link …

(Categories & Target area – Add New Link)

In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category link.

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

• _blank means that a new web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link.
• _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave 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 ignore this option.

Link Relationship XFN

This area provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link screen)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Ramona O’Malley and you link to her blog, you would probably tick 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 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 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, enter nofollow into this field. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords using spaces.

To learn more about XFN, visit this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings)

The Advanced section contain the following fields:

• 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 can display next to your 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).

Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential.

When you have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link to update your link settings …

(Click on Add Link to save your new link)

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

(Make your links private)

Making links private lets you add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have added to the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in your navigation menu …

(WordPress Links – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser. The table of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …

(List of links)

Tip: To show or hide fields in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …

(Table of links – Screen Options)

Show/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …

(Table of links – Hide or show screen options)

How To Edit Your Link Information

To edit links in the Link Manager, go to the navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …

(WP Links – All Links)

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

(Editing your links)

Edit the link …

(Edit Link page)

After you’re done editing the link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

Deleting Links

To remove a link from the Link Manager, go to the main navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ page will display 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 your mouse cursor over the link title that you want to remove and click on Delete …

(Delete links)

To delete links in bulk, either click on the checkboxes next to individual links that you want to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Deleting multiple links)

Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop-down menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …

(Bulk-delete links)

All the links you have selected will be deleted …

(Deleted links message)

Using The Plugin

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 your links on your site.

Using The Links Widget

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

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

(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)

You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.

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

(Links widget)

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

(Drag and drop your links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)

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

(Link widget - options)

You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and feature link lists throughout your site …

(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

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

(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 settings – Sort by options)

When you have finished configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will display on your site’s sidebar …

(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 more help with widgets? Go here for a detailed article on configuring widgets:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To The Blog

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using search, filter, and sort functionality.

Sort Links Function

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

(You can sort your links)

Find Your Links

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

(You can search links using the search function)

Filter Links

You can filter links by category …

(Filter links by link category)

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 links in the ‘Links’ column …

(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)

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 website or blog, 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer links, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link library – WordPress Links Management Plugin)

Download Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library lets you output a list of your link categories with a complete list of links with descriptions and notes …

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

Link Library can be used to create 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 for your link collection so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.

For more details about using this handy plugin, go here:

• Link Library Plugin For WordPress

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.

To learn more about how to create links in WordPress, refer to this article:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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