As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external sites or pages displayed on your sidebar menu.
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 hyperlinks to your sidebar area (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.
Before the release of v3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager – part of the menu until the release of WP v.3.5)
After …
(Links – excluded from WordPress after WordPress v 3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v 3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Link Manager would have been removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Link Manager, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – you won’t see it displayed on your 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 menu section is not visible when you log into your WP backend, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin restores the built-in Link Manager, 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 code to WordPress 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From your WordPress dashboard menu, go to 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 screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ item on the navigation menu …
(Links menu)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding new links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign the link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to the admin menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links Menu – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field will display as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL part of your link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
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 page)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . 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 link category name to something that your visitors can relate to. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be assigned to 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 Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the link category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process and add as many link categories as your site requires.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add New Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the WP dashboard menu …
(WP Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of your link category name. Use only lowercase letters without 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
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new window will open up in their browser to display the content associated with the link. Your visitor will be able to see the link information without leaving your site
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN) section)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Andrew Cooper and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links 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 defines a 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, help, index, start, etc. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave the fields in this section empty unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Add New Link – Advanced link settings)
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 your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed will 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 would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
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 …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private allows you to toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like a link to display during certain periods and hide it afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will display in your browser. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view or hide columns in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Display/hide fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Links table)
Editing Your Links
To edit a link in the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the dashboard menu to bring up the list of links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Change your link details …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing the 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 everything correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, go to the main admin menu and select Links > All Links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the check boxes next to individual items that you would like to delete, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The links you have selected will be removed …
(Link deletion 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 make links display on your site.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP dashboard menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen in your web browser.
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 widget sections in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links to display …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides various configurable settings. You can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget options)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebars and footers as you want. This allows you to add and display various link lists throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Display a list of items for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sort by options)
After configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links should show on your sidebar …
(Links can be displayed on a 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 more help using widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets. If you would like to learn more here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with search, sort, and filter functionality.
Sort Links Function
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort your links)
Finding Your Links
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(You can easily search your links using the search function)
Filtering Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter links by category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. 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 screen)
This brings up a list of all links listed under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website or blog, 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.
Link Library
(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of all your links together with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin documentation.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your website containing a list of all of 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 for your links that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
Go here to learn more about using this great plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
Go here to learn more about how to easily add HTML links into your WordPress content:
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