As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar menu.
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 hyperlinks to your WordPress sidebar menu (e.g. a “We Use And Recommend” section) using widgets.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v 3.5, the Links Manager section was kept hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WP Links Manager – pre version 3.5)
After …
(Links is no longer part of WordPress after WordPress v.3.5)
If you’ve used an earlier version than v3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your website is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not appear 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 a Links item on the main menu when you log into your WP backend, you can add this feature via a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
You can use this plugin to display the Links menu on your WP dashboard, 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 WordPress 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these instructions:
From your WordPress administration menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will show in your WP admin menu area …
(WordPress links management menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before you start adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address 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)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories area)
The link category will display in the table …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category for a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically display under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing 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 the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process and add as many different link categories as you need.
Once you have finished setting up your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, choose Links > Add New in your WP admin menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ page 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 page …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description – Add New Link)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: What you enter in this field displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of your 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 the link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link. Your visitor can access the link information without leaving your page
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens links 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) fields)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Grace Smith and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some websites 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 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, type nofollow into this field. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords using spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced section)
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 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 link’s RSS feed will be displayed next to the 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making links private allows you to add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to the main dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ screen in your browser. The Links screen displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Show/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit links, go to the dashboard menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Change the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing the 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 everything correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links, click on Links > All Links in the WP admin menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will load in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all links at once.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the checkbox next to each item that you want to remove, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
Your links will be removed …
(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 website or blog.
Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP dashboard menu …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget areas and drop it wherever you want the links to display …
(Drag and drop your links widget to add it to your widget bar)
The Links widget includes a number of options. You can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - options)
You can also add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This allows you to create and feature link categories throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display a specific list of items …
(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 settings – Sort by options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should now display on your website’s sidebar menu …
(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? Go here if you want to learn more widgets:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sorting, searching, and filtering functionality.
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 black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort links)
Search Links
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(You can search links using the search function)
Filter Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering links by categories)
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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website or blog, or if you would like to add a page containing a list of links to your site (i.e. not just add a links section to 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)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and 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 links so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
Go here to learn more this powerful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to external websites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a comprehensive article on how to add HTML links into WordPress. Go here to learn more:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum