As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or blogs that display 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 Manager lets you easily add and manage hyperlinks to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After v3.5, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(Links was part of the menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Links Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not be displayed on your dashboard 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 you can’t see a Links item on your main menu when you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add it by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin restores the Link 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 template 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 WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these instructions:
In the WP dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ item in the WP navigation menu …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before you start adding links, it’s a good idea to first set up your link categories. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign the link to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(WP Links – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: What you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the SEO friendly URL of the link category name. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description.
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories)
The new category will now show in the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when adding a link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can relate to. 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 ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on Update Link Category …
(Editing the link category name)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
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)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat the above process and add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can being adding your links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, go to the dashboard menu and click on Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter your link details …
(Add New Link page – Name, Web Address, Description)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field will display 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
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target fields – Add New Link page)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category link.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where the link should open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a separate 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 website
- _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 web 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) – Add New Link)
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 Kian O’Malley 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 your links will still work. 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 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ attributes using spaces.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ screen lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is located 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 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).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Make links private by checking the box)
Making links private lets you 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, select Links > All Links in your dashboard menu …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser. The Links page displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view additional fields in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Links screen – Screen Options)
Display/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Links table – Hide or display screen options)
How To Edit Your Links
To modify links, select Links > All Links in the main dashboard menu to bring up your links page …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your link information)
Make the changes you want to your link details …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your link table …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Links
To delete links, go to the main dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ table in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all of your links.
To delete individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete a number of links at once, either click on the check box next to each link that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
Your selected links will be deleted …
(Link deletion message)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to learn how to make links display on your website or blog.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your navigation menu …
(Appearance – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your widget bars and drop it wherever you want your links to show up …
(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget offers various options. You can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you add and feature lists of links throughout your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Display links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
When you have finished configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should show on your website’s sidebar menu …
(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 using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about using widgets. To learn more, go here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sorting, filtering, and searching features.
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 your links)
Finding Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Find links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering links by 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 links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links listed under 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 want 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 consider using a plugin that can help you administer links.
Link Library
(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin gives you the ability to display a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your site that contains 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.
To learn more about the Link Library plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a featured links section to WordPress.
Go here if you would like to learn more about adding HTML links in your WordPress posts:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum