As you continue to discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other websites or blogs that display on your sidebar section.
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 hyperlinks to your sidebar area (e.g. a “Recommended Resources” section) using a widget.
Prior to the release of WP v3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After version 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Feature – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links Manager)
If you have had an earlier version than v 3.5 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 item on your main menu when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to display the Links menu on your WP dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow these instructions:
From your WP administration area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, WordPress will add a ‘Links’ item to your WP navigation menu area …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding new links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your WP navigation menu …
(WP Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug appears in the search-engine friendly 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 your link category description.
When done, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will display in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. 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 that your visitors can understand. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically display under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many link categories as your site requires.
After you have finished configuring your link categories, you can start adding new links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, go to the dashboard menu and choose Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description section – Add New Link page)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of your link category name. 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.
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how you want the link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link. This allows your visitors to access the link information without leaving your website
- _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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) fields – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Riya O’Malley and you link to her 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 still work. XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some websites 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 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen 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 fields)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of your image and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link can display next to your link.
- 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 in the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view a list of all your links, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser. The Links table displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To display additional columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Show/hide information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Links table – Show/hide screen options)
Editing Your Links
To modify links in the Link Manager, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links screen …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Make changes to your link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your 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 the link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To remove a link, go to the dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(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 individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check box next to each link that you would like to remove, 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’ dropdown menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
All the links you have selected will be removed …
(Link deletion notification)
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 make links display on your site.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WP navigation menu …
(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of your active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Drag & drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized area)
The Links widget includes a number of options. You can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - options)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you add and feature specific link sections throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Display 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 options – Sorting options)
After configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will appear 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 more help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about configuring widgets. Go here to learn more:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sort, search, and filter functionality.
Sort Links Function
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting your links)
Find Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Searching your links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter your links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. 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 displays a list of all links grouped 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 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library gives you the ability to display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 for your links so that your site users can be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about this WordPress plugin, visit this site:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.
Go here to learn more about how to add HTML hyperlinks in WordPress posts & pages:
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