As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or blogs 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.”

You can add a set of links using the Links menu in your 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 v 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new WordPress installations …

Before …

(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v3.5)

After …

(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager)

If you were using the Links feature in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when your WordPress installation upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your installation of WordPress is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not display 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 displayed when you log into your WP admin area, you can add this feature via a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.

Link Manager

(Link Manager – WordPress Link Management Plugin)

Download URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager

Plugin Description

You can use this plugin to restore the Links feature on your WP dashboard, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code to your installation to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, this plugin had not been updated for a while, 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 site’s template code.

Simple Links

(Simple Links Plugin)

Plugin Download URL

https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/

Description Of Plugin

Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Installing Link Manager

To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, follow these instructions:

From your WP dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …

Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …

Activate the plugin after installation …

Once you have activated the plugin, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section in the WP admin menu area …

(WordPress links menu)

Plugin Setup

We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding any new links. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign your link to a link category you have already created.

Link Categories

To create a new link category, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Links > Link Categories …

(WP Links Menu – Link Categories)

This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.

Enter the following information:

• Name: Enter the link category name.
• Slug: The slug displays in the URL of the link category name. 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)

after entering your information, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …

(Link Categories)

The link category will be added to 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)

You may want to change the default link category name to something that your visitors can relate to. 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 …

(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)

To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …

(Editing the link category)

Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …

(Quick Edit)

In our example, we’ve replaced the link category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).

Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …

(Link category description)

Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …

(Edit Link Category page)

Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.

Once you have set up your link categories, you can being adding your links.

How To Add Links

To create a new link, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose 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 page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …

(Links – Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

The first section is where you enter your link details …

(Name, Web Address& Description section)

Type in the following information:

• Name: What you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
• Slug: The slug is the URL part 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse.

Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for the link …

(Categories & Target – Add New Link)

In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link 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 visitors click on it:

• _blank means that a separate web browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link. Your visitor can see the information without leaving your page
• _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 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 section provides some additional link functionality …

(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN) fields)

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Sarah Schwartz 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 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 defines 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, help, start, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.

To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:

• WordPress Codex: Defining Relationships With XFN

Advanced

The last section 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 – Advanced section)

The Advanced section contain the following fields:

• 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 RSS feed associated with the link can display next to your link.
• Notes: This section lets you add notes 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).

Type in your information in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential for links to work.

When you have finished adding information about your link, 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 Blogroll section …

(Private link checkbox)

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 a link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …

(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)

To view a list of all your links, go to your WP navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …

(Links – All Links)

This brings up the ‘Links’ table. The Links screen displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …

(Links screen)

Tip: To view or hide columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …

(Table of links – Screen Options)

Show/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …

(Show/hide links)

Editing Links

To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the WP admin menu to bring up your list of links …

(Links – All Links)

Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …

(Editing links)

Edit your link information …

(Edit Link screen)

After editing your link, you can:

• Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
• Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open in a new window),
• Click Delete to remove the link from your table if it’s no longer required …

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

How To Delete Your Links

To remove a link from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu …

(Links – All Links)

The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all your links.

To delete individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …

(Deleting links)

To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you would like to be removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …

(Deleting multiple links)

Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …

(Bulk-deletion of links)

All the links you have selected will be removed …

(Deleted links notification)

Using The Plugin

Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your website.

Using The Links Widget

Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.

To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your admin menu …

(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)

You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.

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 the active widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like your links to display …

(Drag & drop the links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)

The Links widget offers various configurable settings. 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 …

(Link widget - configurable settings)

You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and display specific links on your site …

(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)

Select a link category to display specific links …

(Link widget options – Select Link Category)

You can sort links by Link rating, Link ID, Link title, or display links in Random order …

(Link widget options – Sort by options)

When you have finished configuring the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links will show up immediately on your website …

(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 help with widgets? Go here if you want to learn more configuring widgets:

• How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Links Manager – Additional Information

If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with searching, filtering, and sorting functions.

Sorting Your Links

You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …

(You can easily sort links)

Find Links Function

Search for links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …

(Find links)

Filter Links

You can filter links by link categories …

(Filter your links by category)

You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to search for link categories, or click on the category links in the ‘Links’ column …

(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)

This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …

(Links filtered by category)

Additional Link 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.

Link Library

(Link Library WordPress Plugin)

Download Plugin URL

http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/

Plugin Description

This plugin allows you to output a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …

(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin website.)

Link Library can be used to create a page on your site containing all the link categories in your Links section, plus all links defined for 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 link collection so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.

To learn more about using this WordPress plugin, visit the plugin site:

• Link Library WordPress Plugin

Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in WordPress.

Go here to learn more about how to insert links into WordPress posts:

• Using The WordPress Internal Linking Tool

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