As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external websites or blogs 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.”
The Links feature lets you easily add links to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(The Links Manager feature – part of the WordPress admin menu until the release of WP v3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v.3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be 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 WP admin area, you can add this feature via a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
You can use this plugin to display the default Links Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. The last time we 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 WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From the WP administration menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type in “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 installing it …
After activation, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ item in the WP sidebar menu …
(WordPress links management menu)
Configuring The Plugin
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding links. This way, you can assign any new links to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, select Links > Link Categories in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address of the link category. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
When finished, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories area)
The new category will display in the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically display under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the 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, and click on Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process and add as many link categories as your site needs.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can being adding your links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, select Links > Add New in your dashboard menu …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links page …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Address& Description area)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part of the link category. Use only lowercase letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link screen)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where you want your link to open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a separate window will open up in their web browser to display the content for that link. Your visitor will be able to access the link information without leaving your page
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit your site and a new website 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. 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 area 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 work with Kiara Anderson and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all 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 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, start, index, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen lets you enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced fields)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 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).
Type in your information in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished adding your new link information, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you select Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added, select Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will display in your browser. The Links screen displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To show or hide information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Links
To edit a link in the Link Manager, go to your WP navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(Links – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing links)
Make the changes you want to your link …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done 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 (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all links at once.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want removed and click on Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check boxes next to individual links that you want to be removed, 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 remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
All the links you have selected will be removed …
(Link deletion notification)
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 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 the main navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will notice 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 your widget sections and drop it wherever you want the links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized area)
The Links widget includes various settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you add and display different link categories on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
When you have finished setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section will display 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 help using widgets? We have written a detailed article on widgets. For more details, go here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filter, sort, and search features.
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 black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting your links)
Searching Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(You can easily find links using the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering 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 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 intend to add a ‘Links’ page to your site (i.e. not just add links on your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer 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 display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin site.)
This plugin creates a page on your website that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, and all links listed in 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 of your link collection that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
Visit the plugin website to learn more about using this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
Go here to learn more about how to easily add HTML hyperlinks to WordPress posts and pages:
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