As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks 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.”
The Links feature lets you add and manage links to your WordPress sidebar menu (e.g. a “We Use And Recommend” section) using a widget.
Prior to the release of v3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress version 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(Links – part of the WordPress menu until the release of WordPress version 3.5)
After …
(Links is no longer part of the admin menu after WordPress version 3.5)
If you’ve used an earlier version than v3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Link 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 Link Manager is not visible when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin displays the built-in Link Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template 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)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WP dashboard area, 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 …
Find the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After the plugin has been activated, the ‘Links’ feature will be restored to the WP sidebar menu area …
(Links management menu)
Setting Up The Plugin
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the admin menu …
(WP Links Menu – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
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. Use only lowercase letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories screen)
The new category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change the default WordPress link category name to something better suited to your business. This will not only make it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically display 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 name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the default link category name)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Products’ etc).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update finished to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site needs.
After setting up 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 – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will load in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section is where you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the search-engine friendly URL 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 your link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create 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 clicked on:
- _blank means that a new, separate browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave 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 …
(Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Lucinda O’Malley and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with 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 specifies a 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to 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 fields – Add New Link)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of where the image is stored and make sure that your 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: This section lets you add notes 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 ignore this section.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private allows you to add links and then toggle their visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to your dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The table of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view additional information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(List of links – Hide or show screen options)
Editing Your Link Information
To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links screen …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your link information)
Edit your link information …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To remove a link, click on Links > All Links in the main navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the check box next to every item that you want to delete, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop-down menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
Your selected links will be removed …
(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 display your links on your site.
Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load in your browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget areas in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links to display …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget includes various options. 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 - settings)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This lets you create and feature specific various link lists throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(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 settings – Sorting options)
After configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links will now display 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 sorting, searching, and filtering functions.
Sorting Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort your links)
Search Your Links
You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(Finding links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering links by category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. 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 screen)
This displays a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link 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 a links section to 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 Links Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you publish a list of your link categories and a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your website that contains all the link categories in your Links area, plus all links defined for 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 so that your site users can be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about this useful plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a comprehensive article about how to easily insert hyperlinks into your WordPress content. To learn more about this go here:
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