As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external websites or pages displayed on your sidebar.
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 easily add and manage external hyperlinks to your sidebar section (e.g. a “Recommended Resources” section) using widgets.
Prior to the release of v3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of WordPress v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Links Manager displayed in the menu until the release of WP v3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WordPress Links feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v.3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Link 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 item is not visible when you log into your WP admin area, you can add it by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the built-in Link 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WordPress Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In the WP administration menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ item in your WP dashboard menu area …
(WordPress links menu)
Setting Up The Plugin
Before adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when you add a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, click on Links > Link Categories in the navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will load in your web browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears in the SEO friendly URL of the link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
When done, click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories screen)
Your link category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories screen)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something better suited to your business. 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 …
(we recommend changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the default link category name)
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), and click on Update Link Category …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Items’ etc).
Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update when you’re done …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process and add as many new link categories as your site needs.
Once you have finished setting up your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the dashboard menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description – Add New Link page)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type in this field displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL bit of your link category. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you have already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
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 the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a new, separate window will open up in their browser to display the content for that link. This lets your visitors access the link information without leaving your website
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the 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. 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 …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) lets you define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Jonathan Jenkins and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and your links will still work. 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 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. 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’ screen allows you to enter 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 link settings)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the image URL 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 can be displayed next to the link.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section for your own internal reference.
- Rating: You can 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 in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not essential.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link 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, 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 your link to display during certain times and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added to the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the WP admin menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page. The Links page displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display additional information in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links page)
Show/hide fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide – Links page)
Editing Your Links
To edit a link in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu to bring up your links page …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing links)
Edit your link …
(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 make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if you no longer require it …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To delete links, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all your links.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(links deleted message)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to display your links on your website.
Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the dashboard menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will load in your browser.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget bars and drop it wherever you want your links to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget offers various settings. For example, you can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget options)
You can add as many link widgets to your sidebar as you want. This allows you to add and display a number of links on your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
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 ID, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
Once you are done setting up the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should show on your site’s sidebar …
(An example of how 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 help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets. Go here to learn more:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, filter, and search functionality.
Sorting Links Function
To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links function)
Finding Your Links
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(You can search links using the search function)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering links by 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 screen)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your website or blog, or if you would like 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 Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin allows you to publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links together with descriptions and notes …
(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 of your link collection that lets your site users be made 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.
We have written a comprehensive article about adding HTML hyperlinks into your WordPress posts. You can learn more here:
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com