As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or blogs that display 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 display links on your blog using the Link Manager plugin.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(WordPress Links Menu – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, then the Link Manager would have been 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 the Links feature is not visible when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
The Link Manager plugin restores the default Links Manager, 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 template 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WP admin 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 …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will be displayed in the WP navigation menu area …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before you start adding links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, choose Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your web browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL bit of your link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories page)
The link category will display in the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category for a link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name 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 the Links section will automatically be assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
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 Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Links’ etc).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many different link categories as your site requires.
Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, choose Links > Add New in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Addressand Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address 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 your link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
Next, 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 the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate window will open up in their browser to display the information for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This area provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – 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 have a professional relationship with Mason O’Malley and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. 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 specifies a 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, index, start, help, 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 – Advanced section)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following:
- 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 stored 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 can 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 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 are done adding your new link information, 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, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make links private by checking the box)
Making a link private allows you to add a link and then toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want the link to display during certain periods and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to the WP admin menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will load in your web browser. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Show/hide – Links table)
Editing Your Link Information
To modify links in the Link Manager, go to the main navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing your link information)
Make changes to the link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to the WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all of your links.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links message)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to make links display on your website.
Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main dashboard menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page 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 areas in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like your links section to display …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar using drag and drop)
The Links widget includes various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to create and feature specific link categories on your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category …
(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 – Sort by options)
Once you are done configuring your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will appear on your site …
(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 using widgets here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with search, sort, and filter functions.
Sorting Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Finding Links
You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(You can find your 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 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 page)
This displays a list of all links grouped under 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 a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links.
Link Library
(Link library – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links section, plus 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 for your links that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
Go here for more information about using this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to WordPress.
If you want to learn more about how to insert hyperlinks into your WordPress posts and pages, refer to this article:
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