As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar menu 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 links section on your site using the WordPress Link Manager plugin.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Link Manager section was kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WP Links Feature – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, the Links Manager would have been 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 you can’t see a Links section on your main menu when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add it by installing a plugin. This tutorial will show you how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
You can use this plugin to display the built-in Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin 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/
Description
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these instructions:
In your WordPress dashboard area, 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 search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installation …
Once you have activated the plugin, the ‘Links’ feature will be restored to your sidebar menu area …
(Links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before you start adding new links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your WP navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter in this field will display as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the search-engine friendly URL of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when creating a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something that will make sense to visitors. This not only makes 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 change 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, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Editing the link category)
In our example, the category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site needs.
After setting up your link categories, you can add your links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, go to the main navigation menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Add New Link screen – Name, Web Address, Description area)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link page)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how you want your link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a separate web browser window will open up to display the content for that 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 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN) fields)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Madison Fields and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with 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 defines 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, start, help, index, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: 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 your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link can be displayed next to your link.
- 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 in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all your links, go to your WP admin menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser. The Links page displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To display additional information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Show/hide – List of links)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To modify a link, go to the WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Make changes to the link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done 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 your link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the WP dashboard menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or remove all of your links.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check box next to each item that you want to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box 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 …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Deleted links message)
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 make links display 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, go to the dashboard navigation menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen in your web browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget areas in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your widget bar using drag & drop)
The Links widget includes various settings. You can specify what information you want to show 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 sidebar as you want. This lets you add and feature specific various link sections on your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
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 rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
After configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will now appear on your sidebar, footer or whichever widget-ready area you add the links widget to …
(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 with widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filter, sort, and search functionality.
Sort Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Searching Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(You can search links with the search function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filter links by 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website, or if you intend to add a page containing a list of links 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, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links plus descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your website containing all the link categories in your Links area, and 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 for your link collection that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
Go here to learn more this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to external sites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have also written a comprehensive article about how to easily add HTML links in WordPress posts here:
***
"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum