As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or pages displayed 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.”
You can add a blogroll using the Links menu in your WP Dashboard. These links will display on your sidebar or footer once you add the Links widget.
Before WordPress v 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(Links was part of the WordPress menu until the release of WordPress v.3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v 3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, the Link Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not be displayed on the menu.
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 dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
The Link Manager plugin restores the built-in Links Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of template 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 this plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these instructions:
From your WordPress dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after it has been installed …
After activation, the ‘Links’ function will be restored to the WP dashboard menu …
(WordPress links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your admin menu …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you type in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address 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. (Optional)
Click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories area)
Your category details will be added to the list …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category for a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
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 your site will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(we recommend changing the default link category name 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)
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), and click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, the category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site requires.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding New Links
To add a new link, go to your admin menu and select Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Address, Description section)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.
Categories & Target
After adding your link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link 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 where your link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their web browser to display the information associated with the link. This allows your visitors to access the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave 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. Ignore 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) – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Anika O’Malley and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all of 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 lets you specify the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute defines what relationship exists 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, start, index, help, etc.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page 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 area)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the 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 link.
- 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 in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button 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, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added, go to the dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your browser. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display or hide fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Links
To modify links in the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your WP navigation menu to bring up the list of links …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your links)
Change 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 see your link and make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To remove links, select Links > All Links in your WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the checkbox next to every item that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
All the links you have selected will be removed …
(links deleted notice)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you 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 your WP dashboard navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of the active widget sections and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar using drag & drop)
The Links widget provides various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This allows you to add and display specific multiple link categories on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
Display links for a specific category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will appear on your sidebar menu …
(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? If you want to learn more about using widgets, see this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filtering, sorting, and searching functions.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links function)
Search Links
Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(Search your links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filtering links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to find link categories, or click on the links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
This displays a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your website or blog, or if you want to add a page containing a list of links 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 Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you display a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin site.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your site containing all 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 for your link collection that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Visit this website for more details about the benefits of using this handy plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to other websites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
If you want to learn more about adding hyperlinks to WordPress posts & pages, see this article:
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