As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or pages displayed 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.”
You can manage a link section using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will display on your website once you add the Links widget.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(Links – part of the menu until the release of WordPress v.3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you’ve used an earlier version than 3.5 and upgraded your installation, 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 the Links feature is not visible when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin displays the Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code to your installation to restore the hidden feature. The last time we 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin on your site, follow these instructions:
From your WP admin area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will be added to the WP dashboard menu …
(Links management menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before 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 link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your web browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories screen)
Your new category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this default 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 the Links section will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the 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), then click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can start adding new links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, click on Links > Add New in the navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Addressand Description)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the link 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.
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 ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify how you want your link to open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new browser window will open up to display the content for that link. This lets your visitors access the link information without leaving your page
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website or page will load in your web browser window instead.
- _top opens the link at the top level of the frame system if you’re using frames. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Sai Smith and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section 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 defines the relationship 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
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 screen – Advanced link settings)
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 the URL of where the image is located 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 links.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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 ignore this section.
When you have finished 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 select Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like a link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have created, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your browser. The Links screen displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display additional columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Links screen – Screen Options)
Display/hide fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Links
To modify a link, go to your WP dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your list of links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your link information)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link page)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your link table if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, go to your WP navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all your links.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check box next to every item that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(links deleted notice)
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 display links on your website.
Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the admin menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
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 the active widget sections and drop it wherever you want the links section to show up …
(Drag & drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget offers various configurable settings. You can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you add and feature lists of links on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Display a list of items 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 options – Sort by options)
When you have finished setting up the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will show on your sidebar …
(An example of how 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? We have written a comprehensive article about configuring widgets. To learn more, go here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sorting, searching, and filtering functionality.
Sorting Links
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 …
(Sorting your links)
Search Links Function
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(Search links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filter your links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. 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 displays a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to 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, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link library – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin gives you the ability to publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus 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 any additions made to to your link library.
Go here for more details about this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have also created a detailed article on how to add HTML links to WordPress posts and pages here:
***
"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)