How To Add A Link Section To WordPress

Before the release of WordPress v3.5, Links were a core feature of WordPress. This tutorial shows you how to restore this feature to your site …

How To Add A WordPress Blogroll SectionAs you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.

In WordPress terminology, a list of links displayed on your sidebar area 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 Manager lets you add external hyperlinks to your sidebar area (e.g. a “Resources” section) using a widget.

Important

Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …

Before …

Links  - included in the WordPress menu until the release of WP v 3.5

(WordPress Links Menu – pre version 3.5)

After …

Links  - no longer displayed in WordPress after WP v.3.5

(Post version 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager)

If you have used an earlier version than 3.5 and upgraded your installation, then the Link Manager would have been removed, unless you have previously used it.

 

How To Add A Link Section To WordPress

Useful Tip

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 displayed when you log into your WP dashboard, you can add this feature via a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.

Link Manager

Link Manager - Plugin For WordPress

(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

The Link Manager plugin restores the Links Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.

Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. When we last 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.

Simple Links

Simple Links Plugin

(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)

Download URL

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

Description Of Plugin

This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.

Plugin Installation

Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.

From the WP admin area, select Plugins > Add New

Plugins Menu - Add New

(Plugins – Add New)

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

Installing Link Manager

Find the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now

Plugin Installation

Activate the plugin …

Plugin Installation

After activating the plugin, the ‘Links’ function will be restored to your dashboard menu …

Links management menu

(WordPress links management menu)

Configuring The Plugin

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

Link Categories

To create a new link category, select Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard navigation menu …

Links - Link Categories

(Links – Link Categories)

The ‘Link Categories’ screen will display in your browser.

Type in the following information:

  • Name: Whatever you type here displays as the link category name.
  • Slug: The slug is the web address bit of your link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include 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

(Link Categories)

The new category will be added to the table …

Link Categories page

(Link Categories screen)

Important

Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …

Default link category

(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)

You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your visitors. 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 be assigned to the new category name …

Change the default link category name to something better suited to your business

(we recommend changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will understand)

To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit

Quick Edit

(Edit the link category name)

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

Quick Edit

(Update Link Category)

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

Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit

Link category description

(Link category description)

Add your link category description field and click Update when you’re done …

Edit Link Category page

(Edit Link Category page)

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

Once you have finished configuring your link categories, you can add new links.

How To Add New Links

To add a new link, click on Links > Add New in your WP navigation menu …

Links Menu - Add New

(WP Links – Add New)

The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your browser …

Add New Link screen

(Add New Link screen)

You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …

Links - Add New Link button

(Add New Link button)

The ‘Add New Links’ page includes various sections:

Name, Web Address & Description

Enter your link details in this section …

Name, Web Addressand Description fields - Add New Link screen

(Add New Link – Name, Web Address, Description)

Enter the following information:

  • Name: Enter the category name here.
  • Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
  • Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target

Select a Category and Target for your link …

Categories & Target

(Categories & Target area – Add New Link screen)

In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have 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 you want your link to open when clicked on:

  • _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new window will open up in their browser to display the content associated with the link. Your visitor will be able to access the link information without leaving your site
  • _none means that when visitors click on your 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. 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))

Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with George Jones and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.

XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links more understandable to some sites 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 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’ attributes using 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 leave these fields blank unless you have a reason to use them) …

Advanced area

(Advanced area – Add New Link screen)

The Advanced section fields are as follows:

  • Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, 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 link’s RSS feed can display next to your 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 into the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.

When you are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …

click on the Add Link button to save your new link

(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)

Info

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 …

Private link checkbox

(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)

Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want your link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …

Toggle link visibility on and off

(Toggle link visibility on and off)

To see a list of all the links you have added, choose Links > All Links in your WP admin menu …

Links - All Links

(WP Links Menu – All Links)

This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser. The Links screen displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …

Table of Links

(Links page)

Useful Tip

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

Screen Options - Table of Links

(Table of links – Screen Options)

Enable/disable fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …

Show/hide links

(Show/hide – Links table)

How To Edit Links

To edit links, go to the admin menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your links page …

Links - All Links

(Links – All Links)

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

Editing your links

(Editing link information)

Edit the link …

Edit Link page

(Edit Link page)

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 the link’s URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
  • Click Delete to remove the link from your table if it’s no longer required …

Update Link button

(Edit Link: Update Link button)

Deleting Your Links

To delete links, choose Links > All Links in your WP admin menu …

Links Menu - All Links

(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)

The ‘Links’ screen will load in your web browser.

You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all links.

To delete individual links, hover over the link title that you want to remove and click on Delete

Deleting links

(Deleting links)

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

Deleting multiple links

(Deleting multiple links)

Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …

Links: bulk-deletion function

(Links: bulk-delete function)

All the links you have selected will be removed …

Link deletion notice

(Deleted links notification)

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 your links on your website or blog.

Using The Links Widget

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

To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the main admin menu and click on Appearance > Widgets

Appearance Menu - Widgets

(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)

This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.

You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …

Links widget

(Links widget)

Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget sections and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …

Drag and drop your links widget to add it to your WordPress widget bar

(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu using drag and drop)

The Links widget provides various 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

(Link widget - settings)

You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar and footer as you want. This lets you create and feature link lists on your site …

Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars

(Add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)

Select a link category to display links for a specific category …

Link widget options - Select Link 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 options - Sorting options

(Link widget settings – Sort by options)

After configuring your Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should now appear on your sidebar …

Links can be displayed on your site's sidebar

(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.

Tip

Need help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about using widgets. Go here to learn more about this:

Link Manager – Additional Information

If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, filter, and search functionality.

Sort Links

To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …

You can easily sort your links

(Sorting your links)

Searching Links

Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to search for links …

Finding your links

(You can easily search links using the search function)

Filter Links Function

You can filter links by link category …

Filtering links by categories

(Filtering your links by link 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 …

searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page

(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 filtered by link category)

Additional Link Options

If you plan to use links extensively on your website, 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.

Link Library

Link Library

(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)

Download Plugin URL

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

Plugin Description

Link Library gives you the ability to publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links plus notes and descriptions …

List of links created with Link library

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

This plugin creates a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links area, 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 links that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.

Go here to learn more about the benefits of using this plugin:

How Do I Add A Featured Links Section To WordPress?

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

Tip

We have written a detailed article about how to easily add links to your WordPress content. Go here to learn more:

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"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie

Originally published as How To Add A Link Section To WordPress.