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

WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar area 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 add and manage external links to your WordPress sidebar area (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.

Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Link Manager section was kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …

Before …

(WordPress Links Manager Feature – pre v3.5)

After …

(Post version 3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)

If your site this feature was previously active on your website or blog, then it will still be available when your WP installation updates to a newer version. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your website is new, then this function will become invisible – 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 you can’t see the Links feature when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. This tutorial shows you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using 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 Link Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of template 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 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 Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

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

Description

Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

How To Install Link Manager

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

From the WordPress dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”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 you have activated the plugin, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section in the navigation menu area …

(WordPress links management menu)

Setting Up The Plugin

Before adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a link category, go to the navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …

(WordPress Links – Link Categories)

This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page.

Type in the following information:

• Name: What you type here is the category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug displays in the SEO friendly URL of the link category. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description.

When finished, click Add New Link Category to save …

(Link Categories)

Your category details will be added to the list …

(Link Categories)

Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)

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

(we recommend changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)

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

(Quick Edit)

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 …

(Quick Edit)

Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Partners’ etc).

Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …

(Link category description)

Add your link category description field and click Update …

(Edit Link Category screen)

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

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

How To Add Links

To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in the main dashboard navigation menu …

(WP Links – Add New)

This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …

(Add New Link page)

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

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section is where you enter details about your link …

(Add New Link – Name, Web Addressand Description area)

Type in information into the following sections:

• Name: Enter the category name.
• Slug: The slug displays in the URL of the link category. Use lowercase letters only without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display a link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse. (Optional)

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your link …

(Add New Link page – Categories & Target)

In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 your link should open when clicked on:

• _blank means that a new window will open up in their web browser to display the content for that link.
• _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your web browser window instead.
• _top opens the link 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))

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Anna Jones and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional. 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 sites 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. 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’ screen allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless you have a reason to use them) …

(Advanced link settings)

The Advanced section fields are as follows:

• Image Address: 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 RSS feed associated with the link will be displayed next to your 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, as these are not essential for links to work.

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

(Click on Add Link to save your new link)

Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …

(Make your links private)

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

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To view all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links …

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your browser. The Links page displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …

(Table of links)

Tip: To display additional options in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …

(Screen Options – Links screen)

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

(Hide or display – Links page)

Editing Your Link Information

To edit links in the Link Manager, go to your dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links screen …

(Links – All Links)

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

(Editing your links)

Change the link fields …

(Edit Link screen)

After editing your link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
• Click Delete to remove the link from your table …

(Update Link button)

How To Delete Your Links

To remove a link, go to your WP dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …

(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 delete all your links at once.

To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …

(Delete links)

To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you would like to delete, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …

(Deleting multiple links)

Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …

(Bulk-delete links)

Your selected links will be removed …

(Deleted links message)

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’ section.

To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP admin menu and select Appearance > Widgets …

(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)

This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your web browser.

You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your widget areas and drop it wherever you want your links section to display …

(Adding a links widget to a widgetized menu using drag and drop)

The Links widget offers various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …

(Link widget settings)

You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you add and feature a number of lists of links throughout your site …

(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)

Display links for a specific category …

(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)

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

(Link widget options – Sorting options)

Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will become visible on your sidebar menu …

(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? If you want to learn more about widgets, see this article:

• Using Widgets

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filter, search, and sort features.

Sort Links Function

You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …

(You can sort your links)

Find Links

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

(You can search your links with the search function)

Filtering Links

You can filter links by link category …

(Filtering your links by link 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …

(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)

This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …

(Links filtered by category)

Links – Additional Options

If you plan to add a lot of links to 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 links.

Link Library

(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library lets you output a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus descriptions and notes …

(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)

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

Go here to learn more about the benefits of using this useful plugin:

• Link Library WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in WordPress.

Go here if you want to learn more adding links in your WordPress posts:

• How To Use The Internal Linking Tool In WordPress

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