As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar section 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.”
You can display links on your blog using the Link Manager plugin.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Link Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v.3.5)
After …
(Post version 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If you were using the Links feature in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used the Link Manager feature, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not display 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 you can’t see a Links section on your main menu when you log into your WordPress backend, you can add it via a plugin. This tutorial will show you how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
The Link Manager plugin restores the built-in Link Manager, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to your installation to restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, this 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)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WordPress admin area, go to 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 …
Find the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After you’ve activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will show in your WP admin menu area …
(Links menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
We recommend setting up link categories first before adding links. This way, when you create 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 your dashboard menu …
(WP Links – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: What you type in this field displays as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the search-engine friendly URL of the 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. (Optional)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories screen)
Your category details will be added to the list …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your site visitors. 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 …
(Change the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Edit the default link category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update when done …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat the above process to add as many new link categories as you need.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can being adding new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, select Links > Add New in your admin menu …
(Links – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ page in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address 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 your link category description.
Categories & Target
After adding link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target fields)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where you want the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new web browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will leave your site and a new website 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Minnie Jenkins and you link to her blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and your links will work just fine. XFN makes the links defined on your site 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 specifies 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’ keywords using spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced section)
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 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: 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(You can make links private by checking the box)
Making a link private allows you to add a link and then toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to add seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have created, go to the WP admin menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To display or hide options in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Show/hide information on your table of links by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit a link, choose Links > All Links in your dashboard menu to bring up the links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing your links)
Make changes to your link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to the WP dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or delete all of your links at once.
To delete individual links, hover over the link title that you want removed and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you would like removed, 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’ dropdown menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links will be deleted …
(Deleted links notice)
Using The Link Manager Plugin
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 make links display on your website.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WP navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your web browser.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag it to one of your widget areas and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your widget bar)
The Links widget provides a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This allows you to add and feature specific link sections throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
After configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should show on your website or blog’s sidebar menu …
(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 help with widgets? We have written a detailed article on using widgets here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using searching, sorting, and filtering features.
Sort Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Finding Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(You can easily find links with the search function)
Filtering Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter your links by link 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot of links to your website, or if you would like to add a ‘Links’ page 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 – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you output a list of your link categories with a complete list of links with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin documentation.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your site containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, and all links defined for these categories. Additionally, 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 additions to your link library.
Go here to learn more this handy plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a link section to your WordPress sidebar.
Go here to learn more about how to easily create links in your WordPress content:
***
"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya