As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites 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.”
You can add a link section using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will display on your blog once you add the Links widget.
Before the release of WordPress v.3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Menu – pre v3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager is no longer part of WordPress after WP v 3.5)
If you have used an earlier version than v.3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Link Manager would be removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links Manager feature, however, or if your site is new, then this function will remain hidden – you will not see it displayed on your 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 the Link Manager is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the default Link Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add 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 this plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Link Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WP Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From the WP administration menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After the plugin has been activated, WordPress restores the ‘Links’ function to the WP admin menu …
(Links management menu)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address 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. (Optional)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
The new category will display in the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when creating a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this default WordPress link category name to something that will make sense to your site visitors. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically display under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the default link category name)
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), and click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update when finished …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many link categories as your site requires.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can being adding new links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, go to your WP navigation menu and select Links > Add New …
(WP Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address, Description fields)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address of the link category. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already created, 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 your link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their browser to display the information for that link. This allows your visitors to see the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will leave your site and a new site 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Sadie Anderson 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 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 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, enter nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, help, index, start, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen lets you 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 RSS feed associated with the link will display next to the link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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 ignore this section.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle its visibility on and 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 your links, click on Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser. The table of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To show or hide fields in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links page)
Display/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Links page – Hide or show screen options)
Editing Your Link Information
To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your dashboard menu to bring up your table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Edit your link …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To remove a link, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the checkboxes next to individual items that you want to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(links deleted message)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your site.
Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen 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 bars and drop it wherever you would like your links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to your widget bar)
The Links widget provides various options. For example, you can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you create and display various link categories throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link ID, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
Once you are done setting up the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should show up immediately on your 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 more help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets. For more info, see this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, filter, and search functionality.
Sorting Your Links
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Find Your Links
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(You can search links with the search function)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(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 find 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 category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website or blog, 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 WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you display a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links section, and 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 link collection so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about the benefits of using this powerful plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
Go here if you would like to learn more about adding links in your WordPress posts:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now