As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.

In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar area is sometimes 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 sidebar or footer using the Link Manager plugin.

Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …

Before …

(The Links Manager feature – part of the admin menu until the release of WP v 3.5)

After …

(Post v.3.5 – no WP Links Manager)

If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Link Manager would have been 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 Link Manager section when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager – WordPress Link Management Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Description

Use this plugin to display the built-in Links feature on your dashboard, 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 your installation in order 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Installing The Plugin

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

From the WordPress dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – 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 it has been installed …

After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section on the WP admin menu …

(WordPress links menu section)

Plugin Setup

We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, select Links > Link Categories in the navigation menu …

(Links – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug appears in the SEO 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 a link category description. (Optional)

Click the Add New Link Category button …

(Link Categories screen)

The new category will display in the table …

(Link Categories page)

Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …

(Default link category)

You may want to change this default link category name to something that your visitors can understand. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …

(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

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

(Editing the link category name)

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

(Editing the default link category name)

In our example, the category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

Let’s now add 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)

Add your link category description field and click Update done to save your settings …

(Edit Link Category page)

Repeat the above process and add as many different link categories as your site requires.

After configuring your link categories, you can add new links.

Adding Links

To create a new link, go to your WP dashboard menu and click on Links > Add New …

(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)

The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your web browser …

(Add New Link page)

You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter details about your link in this section …

(Name, Web Address, Description fields – Add New Link)

Enter the following information:

• Name: What you enter here is the link category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug shows up in the URL 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 a link category description.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for the link …

(Categories & Target)

In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category link.

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 your link to open when a visitor clicks on it:

• _blank means that a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link.
• _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will leave your site and a new website 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then ignore this option.

Link Relationship XFN

This section provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) fields)

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 Kayaan Silva and you link to his 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 work just fine. XFN makes the links defined on your site 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 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, help, index, start, etc.

To learn more about XFN, visit this site:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

(Add New Link – Advanced area)

The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of where the image is stored 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 can display 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 ignore this section.

When you are done adding information about your link, click on Add Link to save your new link …

(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)

Note: If you tick Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …

(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)

Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To see all your links, click on Links > All Links in the dashboard menu …

(Links Menu – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your browser. The Links table displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …

(Links table)

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

(Links page – Screen Options)

Show/hide information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …

(Show/hide links)

Editing Your Links

To edit a link, go to the WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your links page …

(Links Menu – All Links)

Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …

(Editing your link information)

Make changes to the link …

(Edit Link screen)

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

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

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

How To Remove Links

To remove a link, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu …

(Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ screen will display in your web browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.

To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …

(Deleting your links)

To delete multiple links, either click on the checkbox next to each link that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …

(Deleting multiple links)

Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …

(Links: bulk-delete function)

All the links you have selected will be deleted …

(Link deletion notification)

Using The Link Manager 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’ screen.

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

(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)

The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your web 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 the widget to one of the widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …

(Add a links widget to a widgetized area)

The Links widget provides a number of configurable settings. You can specify what information you want to display 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 sidebars and footers. This allows you to create and display specific links sorted by categories throughout your site …

(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)

Display a list of links for a specific category …

(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)

You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …

(Link widget settings – Sorting options)

When you have finished configuring your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links will show on your website’s sidebar …

(An example of how links can be displayed on a 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 using widgets? We have written a detailed article on using widgets here:

• Using WordPress Widgets

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with sort, filter, and search features.

Sort Links

To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …

(Sort links)

Find Your Links

Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …

(Search links)

Filter Your Links

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 …

(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)

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 website or blog, or if you want 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 links.

Link Library

(Link Library Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Plugin Description

The Link Library plugin lets you publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …

(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin website.)

This plugin can be used to create a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus all links listed in 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 of your link collection that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.

Visit this website to learn more this great plugin:

• Link Library Plugin For WordPress

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

We have written a comprehensive article about how to create hyperlinks in WordPress posts. Go here to learn more about this:

• Using The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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