As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external sites or pages that display 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.”
The Links Manager lets you easily add and manage external hyperlinks to your WordPress sidebar section (e.g. a “Top 5 Resources” section) using a widget.
Prior to the release of v.3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature was part of the WordPress menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager – excluded from WordPress after WP v 3.5)
If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then 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 you can’t see the Link Manager section when you log into your WP dashboard you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin restores the default Link Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WordPress Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin on your site, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From your WordPress administration menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installation …
After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ item on the navigation menu …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links Menu – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ page in your browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL bit of your link category name. 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. (Optional)
When done, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories page)
The link category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when adding a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to site visitors. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the link category name)
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)
In our example, we’ve replaced the link category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many link categories as your site requires.
After setting up your link categories, you can start adding your links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ screen will display in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links page …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description area)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit 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.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how you want the link to open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a separate web browser window will open up to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website 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 ignore this option.
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 have a professional relationship with Iris Schwartz and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all of your links will work just fine. 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 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, start, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to enter 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 fields – Add New Link screen)
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: 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 would like 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 have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, select Links > All Links in your navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view or hide columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Display/hide fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Your Link Information
To edit links, go to the main admin menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your table of links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your links)
Make the changes you want to your link …
(Edit Link page)
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 the link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your list if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all links at once.
To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Link deletion notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your website or blog.
Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in the main dashboard menu …
(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of your active widget sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like your links section to display …
(Drag & drop the links widget to add it to your widget bar)
The Links widget includes a number of configurable options. You can specify what information you want 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 as you want. This lets you create and feature specific multiple lists of links throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pulldown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
When you have finished setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your links should show on your site …
(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 with widgets? To learn more about using widgets, see this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, filtering, and sorting 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 …
(Sorting your links)
Find Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Searching your links)
Filter 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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your website, or if you intend 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 your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Download 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 links plus descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin documentation.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 links that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.
Go here to learn more about how to easily add hyperlinks to your WordPress content:
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