As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other websites or web pages that display on your sidebar section 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.”
The Links feature lets you add external links to a widgetized theme.
Prior to the release of WordPress v 3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress version 3.5, the Link Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(The Link Manager – included in the WordPress menu until the release of WP v.3.5)
After …
(Links is no longer included in WordPress after WP v.3.5)
If you’ve used an earlier version than v 3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would have been 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 you can’t see a Links section on your main menu when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress 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 WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WordPress admin area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
Once the plugin has been activated, WordPress will add a ‘Links’ item to your WP dashboard menu …
(WordPress links management menu)
Setting Up Link Manager
Before adding new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. 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 select Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your browser.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you enter here is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug appears in the SEO friendly URL 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 a link category description. (Optional)
Click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories screen)
The category details will now show in the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category for a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your readers. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(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), then click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update finished to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process to add as many link categories as your site requires.
After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, go to the main admin menu and select Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this page by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description fields)
Type in the following information:
- Name: What you enter here displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the SEO friendly URL of the link category. 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where your link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that a separate window will open up in their browser to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave your site and a new website 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link page – Link Relationship (XFN) section)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Charlotte O’Malley and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and your links will still work. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links 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 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link page)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- 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 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 would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not essential for links to work.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added, choose Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser. The Links table displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To display or hide information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Display/hide information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To modify links, click on Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu to bring up the links page …
(WP Links – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing link information)
Make any changes you want to your link information …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, go to your admin menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will load in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check box next to every item that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the 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 the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Deleted links message)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your site.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main admin menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page 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 bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to your WordPress widget bar using drag and drop)
The Links widget provides a number of configurable options. You can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you add and display specific multiple links on your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category to display links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – 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)
After configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will become visible on your sidebar, footer or wherever you add the links widget to …
(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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about widgets. For more details, go here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filtering, sorting, and searching features.
Sorting Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort your links)
Finding Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Finding links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering links by category)
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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This brings up a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website or blog, or if you intend to add a ‘Links’ page 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 For WordPress)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your site containing a list of all of 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 link collection so that your site users can be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Go here to learn more about using this great plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to your WordPress sidebar.
We have written a comprehensive article on inserting HTML hyperlinks into your WordPress posts. For more info, see this article:
***
"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