As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar section is often referred to 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.”
The Links feature lets you add and manage a links section to a widget-ready theme.
Before the release of v3.5, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Link Manager section was hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v 3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v.3.5 installed and upgraded 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 you can’t see a Links item on the main menu when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add this feature via a plugin. This tutorial shows you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin displays the 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 code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the 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)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing Link Manager
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow the step-by-step instructions below:
From your WP admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on 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 activating the plugin, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section on the sidebar menu screen …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding any new 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, go to your dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address 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.
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will display in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to site visitors. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Replace 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 the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update when finished …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process and add as many new link categories as your site needs.
After configuring your link categories, you can start adding new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, go to the admin menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access 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 several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Categories & Target fields)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where you want the link to open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their web browser to display the information for that link. This lets your visitors see the link information without leaving your website
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave your site and a new site or page will load in your browser window instead.
- _top opens the link 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)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Robert Anderson and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and all your links will still work. 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 specifies the relationship 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, help, index, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave the fields in this section blank unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Add New Link page – Advanced section)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of your image 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 can be displayed 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 into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not essential for links to work.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making links private lets you toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have added, click on Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your browser. The Links page displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To view additional fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Links page – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Your Links
To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to the WP navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing link information)
Change the link …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table of links if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To delete a link, click on Links > All Links in the WP dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all your links at once.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you would like removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop-down menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
Your links will be deleted …
(links deleted notice)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to display links on your website.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page in your web 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 it to one of the active widget sections and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Drag and drop your links widget to add it to a widgetized area)
The Links widget offers various settings. You can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - options)
You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to add and display specific links on your site …
(You can add a number of 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 rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
When you have finished setting up the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A link section will become visible 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 comprehensive article about configuring widgets. For more details, go here:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using filter, sort, and search features.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort your links)
Search Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Search links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filtering your 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 …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link 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)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin lets you display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library creates a page on your website containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus 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 for your link collection so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
Visit this website for more information about the benefits of using this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article about adding links to your WordPress posts. If you would like to know more here:
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