As you continue to learn more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar area is sometimes referred to 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 manage a blogroll using the Links menu in your WP Dashboard. These links will display on your website if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v.3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager – part of the menu until the release of WordPress v 3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Link Manager would be 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 the Links item is not displayed when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin restores the built-in Link 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 WordPress to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, this plugin had not been updated for a while, 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)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WP administration area, 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 search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activating the plugin, WordPress will restore the ‘Links’ feature to the admin menu area …
(Links management menu section)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links – 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 shows up in the 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. (Optional)
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories)
The link category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when creating a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default link category name to something that will make sense to your blog readers. This will not only make 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 …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
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), then click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Sponsors’ etc).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process and add as many different link categories as you need.
After configuring your link categories, you can being adding your links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, go to your WP admin menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description – Add New Link)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding your link details, select a Category and Target for your link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that a separate window will open up in their web browser to display the information for that link. Your visitor will be able to see the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave your site and a new site 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. Ignore 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))
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 Bessie Silva and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all your links will still work. XFN makes your links 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, enter nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, index, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
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 link settings section includes the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add an image URL 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: 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 ignore this section.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private allows you to toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want your link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added to the Link Manager, go to the navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your web browser. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view additional columns in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Links page – Screen Options)
Display/hide fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(List of links – Show/hide screen options)
How To Edit Your Links
To edit a link in the Link Manager, go to the main admin menu and select Links > All Links to bring up your list of links …
(Links – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing your link information)
Edit the link information …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save 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 …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check boxes next to individual items that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The links will be deleted …
(links deleted message)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to display links on your website or blog.
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)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.
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 your active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like your links section to display …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides various options. For example, you can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - options)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This lets you create and feature specific several link lists sorted by categories throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pulldown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
After setting up your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your link section will show up immediately on your sidebar menu …
(An example of how 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? We have written a comprehensive article about using widgets. To learn more, go here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sorting, searching, and filtering functionality.
Sorting Your Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse 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)
Searching Your Links
You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(You can easily find your links with the search function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter your 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 screen)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your site, 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 your links.
Link Library
(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your web site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, plus 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 for your links so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
For more information about the benefits of using this handy plugin, visit this site:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to other websites in WordPress.
To learn more about how to easily add HTML links in WordPress, refer to this article:
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