As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar area.
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 blogroll using the Links menu in your Dashboard. These links will then display on your blog if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Links Manager feature displayed in the WordPress admin menu until the release of WordPress version 3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Links Manager would have been 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 displayed when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
This plugin restores the Link Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From the WordPress administration 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 …
Locate the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After the plugin is activated, the ‘Links’ feature is restored to the dashboard menu …
(WordPress links management menu)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, click on Links > Link Categories in your dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address 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 the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
The link category will now show in the list …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this default link category name to something that your visitors can understand. 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 …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Our Partners’ etc).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can being adding your links.
Adding New Links
To add a new link, go to your navigation menu and click on Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address& Description area – Add New Link)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the URL 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 a link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how your link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a separate window will open up in their browser to display the content associated with the link. This allows your visitors to see the information without leaving your website
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website 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. 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 page – Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Vihaan Schwartz and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. 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 specifies 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, index, help, start, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section lets you specify 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 section – Add New Link)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of your image 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 will 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not required.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you select 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 lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like the link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page. The list of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To show or hide columns in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Show/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – List of links)
How To Edit Links
To modify links in the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your links screen …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing link information)
Make the changes you want to the link …
(Edit Link page)
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 your link’s URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To delete links, go to the WP admin menu and select Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ table in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link title you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check box next to each link that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop-down menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
Your selected links will be deleted …
(links deleted message)
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 website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main dashboard menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ screen in your browser.
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 active widget sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress widget bar using drag & drop)
The Links widget provides a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you add and display multiple link lists throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Display a list of items for a specific 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)
When you have finished configuring your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should show up immediately on your sidebar menu …
(An example of how 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? We have written a detailed article on configuring widgets. Go here to learn more:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, search, and filter functionality.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Finding Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …
(You can easily find your links using the search function)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filter links by link categories)
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 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 category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website, 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 links.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin allows you to display a list of your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your web site containing 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 for your links that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in WordPress.
If you want to learn more about how to easily create links in your WordPress content, refer to this article:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)