As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites or pages displayed on your sidebar section.
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 add and manage links to a widgetized theme.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WP Links Manager – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v.3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, 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 you can’t see the Links Manager section when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to restore the default Link Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template 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 template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin on your site, follow these step-by-step instructions:
In the WP dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “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 it has been installed …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will be added to the navigation menu area …
(WordPress links management menu)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, choose Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit 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. (Optional)
When finished, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories area)
The category details will be added to the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when creating a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can understand. 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 appear under the new category name …
(Consider 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 …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …
(Edit the link category name)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as your site needs.
After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add New Links
To create a new link, go to your WP admin menu and choose Links > Add New …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section is where you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address& Description fields – Add New Link page)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug appears in the search-engine 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 your link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create 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 how your link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a separate web browser window will open up to display the content associated with the link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit 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. 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link screen – Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Ali Jenkins and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. 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 defines 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link – Advanced area)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of your image 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 display next to your links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
- Rating: 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 have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button 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 when links are displayed on your site …
(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 to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have created, go to the dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your browser. The Links table displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Links screen – Show/hide screen options)
How To Edit Your Links
To edit a link, go to your WP navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your links screen …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your links)
Make the changes you want to the link information …
(Edit Link page)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove a link, click on Links > All Links in your admin menu …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all of your links.
To delete links individually, hover over the link that you want removed and click on Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkboxes next to individual links that you want to delete, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
Your links will be deleted …
(Deleted links notification)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in the dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load in your web browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars and drop it wherever you would like your links to display …
(Drag and drop your links widget to add it to your sidebar)
The Links widget includes various configurable options. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and display specific several link categories on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(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)
When you have finished configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will show up immediately on your 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 comprehensive article on adding widgets. For more info, see this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using sorting, filtering, and searching functions.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort your links)
Find Links Function
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(Find links function)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filter your links by link categories)
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 …
(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 category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website, or if you want to add a ‘Links’ page 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 URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin gives you the ability to publish a list of your link categories and a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site that contains all the link categories in your Links section, and all links listed in 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 of your link collection so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article on adding HTML links in WordPress posts & pages. Go here to learn more about this:
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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