As you continue to learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar 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.”
You can display a featured links section on your blog using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before the release of WordPress v3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WP Links Menu – pre v.3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)
If you’ve used an earlier version than v3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you’ve 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 menu section is not visible when you log into your WP dashboard, you can add this feature via a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin restores the default Links menu on your WP dashboard, even if you upgrade 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 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 this plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WordPress administration menu, go to 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 screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ item in your navigation menu area …
(WordPress links management menu)
Plugin Configuration
Before adding new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign the link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to the WP dashboard menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your web browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: What you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address 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 finished, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category for a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can understand. 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 assigned to the new category name …
(we recommend changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the list 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), and click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many new link categories as your site needs.
After you have finished configuring your link categories, you can start adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, go to the dashboard menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description – Add New Link)
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter here displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of the 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.
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target section)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want the link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link. This allows your visitors to see the link information without leaving your site
- _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 links 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) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Maria Smith and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and your links will work just fine. XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some websites 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, type nofollow into this field.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced fields – Add New Link)
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 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 the link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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 into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished 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 tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want your link to display during certain periods and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to the dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Links table – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Hide or display – List of links)
Editing Your Links
To modify a link in the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your dashboard menu to bring up the list of links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing link information)
Edit your link fields …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update 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 …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all of your links at once.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links notification)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to display links on your site.
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 the main admin menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your web browser.
You will notice 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 screen and drop it wherever you want your links to display …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized area)
The Links widget provides various settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This allows you to add and display a number of link sections sorted by categories on your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Display links for a specific category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
Once you are done setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should appear on your sidebar, footer or wherever you add the widget to …
(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? We have written a detailed article about using widgets here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, sorting, and filtering features.
Sorting Links Function
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort your links)
Search Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Find your links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter links by link category)
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 …
(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)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your website or blog, 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 WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library gives you the ability to output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links plus descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, plus 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.
Go here to learn more this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to other sites in WordPress.
Go here if you would like to learn more about creating HTML links in WordPress posts:
***
"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum