As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or web pages displayed 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.”
The Links Manager lets you add and manage a links section to your WordPress sidebar (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of version 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(Links was part of the admin menu until the release of WP version 3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature – excluded from WordPress after WP version 3.5)
If your blog previously displayed Link Manager, then it will still be available when your installation upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your site is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be displayed on your menu.
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 visible when you log into your WP dashboard, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to display the Links menu on your WordPress dashboard, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code to your installation in order 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 template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WordPress Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow these step-by-step instructions:
In your WordPress administration area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”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 activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will show up in the navigation menu area …
(Links menu section)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding any new links. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign your link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of the link category. Use only lowercase letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
When done, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category for a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the default link category)
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), and click on Update Link Category …
(Editing the default link category name)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Products’ etc).
Let’s create 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)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as your site needs.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description fields)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO friendly URL of the link category. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where the link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a new, separate browser window will open up to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new website 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. Don’t worry about this option if you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Anthony 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 all of 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 specifies 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced fields – Add New Link)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of your image 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 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 into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on and 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 view all the links you have created, select Links > All Links in the main navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view or hide options in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Links table – Hide or show screen options)
How To Edit Links
To edit a link in the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the admin menu to bring up the links table …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Change the link …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table of links if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To delete a link, choose Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will load in your web browser.
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 title that you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkboxes next to individual links that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The links will be deleted …
(Deleted links notification)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your website.
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 your WP dashboard menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load in your browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …
(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to your sidebar)
The Links widget includes various settings. 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 …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can also add as many link widgets to your sidebar as you want. This allows you to create and display specific various link lists throughout your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Display links for a specific category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should show up immediately on your site’s sidebar menu …
(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 using widgets? Go here if you want to learn more using widgets:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with sorting, filtering, and searching functionality.
Sort Links
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 links)
Finding Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Finding links function)
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 screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links listed 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 would like 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer links.
Link Library
(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, and 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 for your link collection that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.
Visit the plugin site to learn more about the benefits of using this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to WordPress.
We have written a detailed article about creating links in WordPress posts. You can learn more here:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)