As you continue to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar section as a blogroll.
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 WP Dashboard. These links will then display on your site if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(Links – included in the dashboard 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, then the Links Manager would be 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 item is not visible when you log into your WP admin area, you can add it via a plugin. This tutorial shows you how to add and manage links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
Use this plugin to display the default Links Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds 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 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
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 on your website or blog, follow these step-by-step instructions:
In your WordPress dashboard area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select 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 …
Once the plugin is activated, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ item on the admin menu …
(Links management menu)
Setting Up Link Manager
Before adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This takes you to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: What you type here will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the URL part 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)
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories page)
Your category details will display in the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something better suited to your business. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically display under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the link category name)
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), then click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section 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 …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site requires.
After you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add Links
To add a new link, click on Links > Add New in your WP navigation menu …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will load in your web 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 has a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Address& Description section – Add New Link screen)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the URL part of the link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category.
Next, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify how the link should open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a new browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit 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. 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link screen)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Isla Jenkins 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 of your links will work just fine. XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some sites 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 the relationship 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. 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 allows you to 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) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced section)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the image URL and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link can display next to the 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 want 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 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 Keep this link private, your 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 and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added, select Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view additional options in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links page)
Display/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Table of links – Show/hide screen options)
How To Edit Links
To modify links, go to the dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing link information)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To delete a link from the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – 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 you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Link deletion 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 website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the main dashboard menu …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.
You will see 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 in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want the links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget offers various options. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget options)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and display link sections on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Display a list of items for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
After configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section will show up immediately on your website …
(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? We have written a comprehensive article on adding widgets. For more details:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filter, search, and sort functionality.
Sort Links Function
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 your links)
Finding Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(You can find links with the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link category …
(Filter 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter 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 add a lot of links to your site, or if you intend to add a page containing a list of links 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.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library allows you to output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site that contains a list of all of 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 that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.
Visit the plugin site for more information about the benefits of using this powerful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article about how to add HTML hyperlinks in WordPress posts. Go here to learn more:
***
"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum