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 sites or blogs displayed on your sidebar area.
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 easily add and manage external links to your sidebar (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.
Prior to the release of v.3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Link Manager section was hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(The Links Manager feature appeared in the admin menu until the release of WP v3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you’ve used an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 and updated 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 you can’t see a Links item on your main menu when you log into your WP dashboard, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Links Management Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to display the built-in Link Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress 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. 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 plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Installing The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WordPress admin 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 area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, a ‘Links’ item will get added to the navigation menu area …
(WordPress links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, you can assign any new links to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, select Links > Link Categories in the main navigation menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL part of your link category. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
Click the Add New Link Category button to save …
(Link Categories)
Your link category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change the default link category name to something better suited to your business. This not only makes it easier for visitors, 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 list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process and add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, go to your admin menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ page in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section lets you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Addressand Description)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Whatever you enter here displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL bit of your link category name. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category link.
Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how you want your link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their web browser to display the information associated with the link. This allows your visitors to see the link information without leaving your page
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the link, they will exit 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. 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) area – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Emily Smith 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 of your links will work just fine. 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 defines 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ keywords with spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section lets you 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) …
(Add New Link page – Advanced link settings)
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 RSS feed associated with the link will display next to your links.
- 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 are done adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want the link to display during certain periods and hide it after it’s no longer required) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all your links, go to the dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser. The Links page displays all your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To view additional fields in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(List of links – Hide or display screen options)
Editing Your Links
To edit links in the Link Manager, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing links)
Make the changes you want to the link information …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up your link’s URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all of your links.
To delete links individually, hover over the link you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the check box next to every link that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click Apply to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
Your selected links will be deleted …
(Link deletion 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 make links display on your site.
Using The Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in your dashboard menu …
(WP Appearance – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ screen will display in your browser.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your widget areas and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Add a links widget to your WordPress sidebar using drag & drop)
The Links widget provides a number of options. You can specify what information you want 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 as you want. This lets you create and feature specific link sections sorted by categories throughout your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display a specific list of items …
(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 – Sorting options)
After configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links will display on your website’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.
Need more help with widgets? If you want to learn more about using widgets, see this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, search, and filter functionality.
Sorting Your Links
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)
Searching Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Searching links function)
Filter Links
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter links by link categories)
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 screen)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by 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 links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin allows you to output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of links with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your website containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
For more information about the benefits of using this powerful plugin, visit the plugin website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to your WordPress site.
We have also created a detailed article about adding links to WordPress here:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)