As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other websites or web pages displayed on your sidebar.

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 links on your website using the WordPress Link Manager plugin.

Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …

Before …

(The Link Manager displayed in the admin menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)

After …

(The Links Manager is no longer included in WordPress after WordPress v.3.5)

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’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your WP installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be displayed on your dashboard 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 Manager section when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage 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

Use this plugin to restore the default Links Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to restore the hidden feature. The last time we 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 WordPress Plugin)

Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.

Installing Link Manager

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

In the WP dashboard area, 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 search results screen and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after installing it …

Once the plugin is activated, a ‘Links’ section will be added to your WP admin menu …

(WordPress links management menu section)

Configuring Link Manager

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

Link Categories

To create a new link category, go to your WP dashboard menu and click on Links > Link Categories …

(Links Menu – Link Categories)

This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.

Type in information into the following sections:

• Name: Enter the link category name here.
• Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of your link category name. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
• Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)

Click the Add New Link Category button to save …

(Link Categories page)

The new category will now show in the table …

(Link Categories)

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

(Default link category name)

You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your site visitors. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be listed under the new category name …

(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)

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

(Quick Edit)

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

(Editing the default link category name)

Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Partners’ etc).

Let’s create a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …

(Link category description)

Enter your link category description field and click Update …

(Edit Link Category screen)

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

After you have finished configuring your link categories, you can being adding your links.

Adding Links

To add a new link, go to the WP dashboard menu and choose Links > Add New …

(Links – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your browser …

(Add New Link screen)

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

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes a number of sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section lets you enter your link details …

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

Enter the following information:

• Name: What you enter in this field will display as the link category name.
• Slug: The slug appears in the SEO friendly URL 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 the link …

(Add New Link – Categories & Target)

In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already set up, 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 how your link should open when clicked on:

• _blank means that a separate window will open up in their web browser to display the content associated with the link. This allows your visitors to see the link information without leaving your website
• _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 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 section provides some additional link functionality …

(Link Relationship (XFN) section)

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 Robert Schwartz and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all of your links will still work. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links 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 the 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords using spaces.

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 (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …

(Advanced area)

The Advanced link settings section contains the following:

• Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of where the image is located and make sure that your 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: 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 ignore this section.

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 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 link visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain periods and hide them afterwards) …

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

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

(Links Menu – All Links)

The ‘Links’ page will load in your browser. The Links page displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …

(Links page)

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

(Table of links – Screen Options)

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

(Show/hide – List of links)

How To Edit Your Links

To edit a link in the Link Manager, go to the navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your list of links …

(Links Menu – All Links)

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

(Editing link information)

Edit your link fields …

(Edit Link screen)

After you’re done editing the 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 in a new window),
• Click Delete to delete the link …

(Update Link button)

Removing Links

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

(Links – All Links)

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

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all your links at once.

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

(Delete links)

To delete a number of links at once, either click on the checkbox next to every item that you would like to delete, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Deleting multiple links)

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

(Bulk-deletion of links)

The links will be deleted …

(links deleted message)

Using The Link Manager Plugin

Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display your links on your site.

Links Widget

The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.

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

(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)

This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ screen.

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 active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want your links to show up …

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

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

(Link widget - options)

You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and feature link lists throughout your site …

(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)

Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …

(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 – Sorting options)

When you have finished configuring your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will become visible on your site’s sidebar …

(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? We have written a detailed article about adding widgets here:

• Adding And Configuring WordPress Widgets In Your Sidebar Section

Link Manager – Additional Information

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

Sorting Your Links

You can sort links by hovering your mouse 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)

Searching Links

Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …

(Searching your links)

Filtering Your Links

You can filter links by link category …

(Filter your 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 links in the ‘Links’ column …

(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)

This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …

(Links filtered by category)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to add a lot of links to your website, or if you intend 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 Download URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library lets you display a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …

(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)

This plugin creates a page on your web site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus all links defined for 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 for your link collection so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.

To learn more about this WordPress plugin, go here:

• Link Library Plugin For WordPress

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

Go here to learn more about how to insert HTML links into your WordPress posts:

• Using The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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