As you continue to discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites or pages that display on your sidebar.
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 easily add links to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WordPress Links Feature – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Links – no longer shown in the WordPress dashboard menu after WordPress v.3.5)
If you have had an earlier version than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Link 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 item on your main menu when you log into your WP backend, you can add it via a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin restores the default Links feature on your WordPress dashboard, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Links Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, do the following:
From the 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 …
Find the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ item on your sidebar menu screen …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your WP navigation menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug displays 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)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will now show in the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default link category name to something that will make sense to site visitors. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update when done …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as you need.
After configuring your link categories, you can start adding your links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this screen 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 a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit 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 your link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Add New Link page – Categories & Target section)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category link.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how you want the link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their web browser to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new site 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 just ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link screen)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Aadhya Jones and you link to her 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 still work. XFN makes the links defined on your site 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, type nofollow into this field. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, help, start, etc. 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) …
(Add New Link page – Advanced link settings)
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 the URL of where the image is located and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed can be displayed next to your links.
- 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 into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have created, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The Links page displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display additional fields in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Show/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Your Links
To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the main navigation menu to bring up your links page …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Edit your link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done 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 the link’s URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your list if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, go to the WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all your links.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link title that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check boxes next to individual items that you would like to remove, 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’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links will be deleted …
(Deleted links notification)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
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
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your dashboard navigation menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your web browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your active widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want the links section to display …
(Add a links widget to your widget bar using drag & drop)
The Links widget includes various configurable settings. 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 options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to add and display lists of links sorted by categories on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Display links for a specific category …
(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 – Sorting options)
After setting up your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should now be visible on your sidebar …
(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 with widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about using widgets here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using search, filter, and sort functionality.
Sort Links Function
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Searching Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Search your links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering your 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 page)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your site, or if you would like 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)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin allows you to output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links section, and all links listed in 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 of your links so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to your WordPress site.
To learn more about inserting HTML hyperlinks into WordPress posts and pages, see this article:
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