As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or blogs displayed 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 feature lets you easily add and manage external links to your WordPress sidebar menu (e.g. a “Top 5 Resources” section) using widgets.
Before the release of v.3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v.3.5, the Links Manager section was kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WP Links Menu – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)
If you’ve used an earlier version of WordPress than v.3.5 and updated your installation, the Links 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 the Links item is not displayed when you log into your WordPress admin area, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
You can use this plugin to display the built-in Links Manager, 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 WordPress to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow the step-by-step instructions below:
From the WordPress dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
Once the plugin is activated, a ‘Links’ item will be displayed in your sidebar menu …
(Links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding links. This way, when adding 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 admin menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will load in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug displays 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 the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories page)
Your link category will now show in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category for a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this default WordPress link category name to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically display under the new category name …
(we recommend 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 …
(Editing the default link category name)
Replace 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 …
(Editing the default link category name)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update when you’re done …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many link categories as your site needs.
After setting up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address& Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter here will display as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address of the link category. 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
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have 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 the link should open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a new, separate window will open up in their browser to display the content 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 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Nicole Cooper and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and your links will still work. XFN makes your links 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 defines what relationship exists 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, index, start, help, etc. 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 specify 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 options:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add an image URL 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 be displayed next to your link.
- 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link 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 links private by checking the box)
Making links private lets you add links and then toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them when they are no longer required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your browser. The Links table displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display additional fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Links screen – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Links page – Hide or display screen options)
Editing Your Link Information
To edit a link, go to the dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the list of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing your link information)
Change the link details …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to the admin menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link title that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check box next to each item that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links notice)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to make links display on your website.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your web 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 sections and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area using drag & drop)
The Links widget offers a number of configurable 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 menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This lets you create and feature specific different link sections sorted by categories throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
You can create and display a list of links for a specific category …
(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 settings – Sorting options)
When you have finished setting up the links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links will now appear 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 more help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about adding widgets. For more details:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filter, sort, and search functionality.
Sort Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Searching Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Find your links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering links by category)
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 listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website, or if you would like 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 your links.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you output a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library 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, and 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 links so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Visit the plugin website to learn more about this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to your WordPress site.
We have written a comprehensive article on inserting HTML links into your WordPress content. Go here to learn more:
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