As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external websites or blogs that display on your sidebar menu.
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 manage a link section using the Links menu in your WP Dashboard. These links will display on your website if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress version 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WordPress Links Feature – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you have used an earlier version than v.3.5 and upgraded your installation, the Link Manager would be 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 the Links feature when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
The Link Manager plugin displays the built-in Links Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to your installation 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, follow these step-by-step instructions:
In your WordPress admin menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “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 it has been installed …
After activating the plugin, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ section on the navigation menu …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding new links. This way, you can assign any new links to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, select Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO friendly URL of the link category. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will display in the list …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this 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 the Links section will automatically display under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, 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), then click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Sponsors’ etc).
Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as you need.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, click on Links > Add New in the 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 the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Addressand Description – Add New Link)
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter here displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address of the link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link 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 how you want the link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new site or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens links 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) fields – Add New Link screen)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Bruno O’Malley and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and 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 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, enter nofollow into this field.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 will be displayed next to the 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 the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you select Keep this link private, your 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 these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain times and hide them when they are no longer required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added to the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view additional fields in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Show/hide information on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Hide or display – Links screen)
How To Edit Your Links
To edit links in the Link Manager, go to the WP navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your link information)
Edit your link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your link table if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, go to the WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
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 checkboxes next to individual links that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links 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.
Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your widget areas in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want the links to display …
(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget provides various settings. You can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to add and feature link lists sorted by categories throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
You can add and display links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
When you have finished setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will display on your 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 help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about configuring widgets. If you would like to know more about this here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filtering, sorting, and searching features.
Sorting 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 triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting your links)
Finding Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter your links by link categories)
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 …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by 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 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
This plugin lets you publish a list of your link categories and a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your website that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and 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 link collection so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about using this WordPress plugin, visit this website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to external websites in WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article on how to easily insert hyperlinks into your WordPress content. Go here to learn more:
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