As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks 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.”
The Links feature lets you easily add a links section to a widgetized theme.
Prior to the release of WP v.3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress v 3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(Links – part of the menu until the release of WP v 3.5)
After …
(Links – no longer displayed in WordPress after WP v.3.5)
If you have used an earlier version than v.3.5 and updated your installation, 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 displayed when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add it via a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin restores the default Links menu on your dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code to your installation to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the plugin had not been updated for a while, 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)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:
In your WordPress dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item is added to your navigation menu area …
(Links management menu section)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding 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 new link category, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter here displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL 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 a link category description. (Optional)
When finished, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories page)
The new category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to site visitors. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing the default link category name)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update finished to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many link categories as you need.
Once you have finished setting up your link categories, you can add your links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Addressand Description – Add New Link)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address of the 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
Also, 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:
- _blank means that a separate window will open up in their browser to display the information for that link. This lets your visitors access the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your browser window instead.
- _top opens links at the top level of the frame system if you’re using frames. Ignore this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Ali Silva and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all your links will still work. Defining relationships with 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, enter nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, start, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
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 – Add New Link)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is stored 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 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 in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you tick Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want a link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, select Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ table in your browser. The Links table displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links page)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Link Information
To edit links in the Link Manager, go to the main admin menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the links page …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing links)
Change your link information …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table of links …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To delete a link, choose Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all of your links.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the check box next to every link that you want to remove, 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’ pull-down menu, and click Apply to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links notice)
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 website or blog.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.
You will notice 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 the active widget bars and drop it wherever you want the links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your widget bar)
The Links widget offers various configurable options. You can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to create and display various link categories on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
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 settings – Sort by options)
After setting up your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your link section will show up immediately 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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about using widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filtering, searching, and sorting functions.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Search Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(Finding links)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering your links by link categories)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. 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 page)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, or if you would like to add a ‘Links’ page 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.
Link Library
(Link library – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links plus descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
This plugin creates a page on your website that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, 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 link collection that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress site.
We have written a detailed article on creating links in WordPress posts and pages. Go here to learn more about this:
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