As you continue to discover more about using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or web pages displayed on your sidebar section.
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 external links to a widget-ready theme.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager – part of the WordPress menu until the release of WP version 3.5)
After …
(Post v3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you’ve had an earlier version of WordPress than v 3.5 installed and updated 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 you can’t see a Links item on the main menu when you log into your WP admin area, you can add it via a plugin. This tutorial shows you how to add, edit, delete 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
Plugin Description
You can use this plugin to restore the 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 template code to your installation 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
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 in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activating the plugin, WordPress will display a ‘Links’ section on your WP navigation menu screen …
(WordPress links management menu)
Plugin Setup
Before you start adding any new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, choose Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit of your link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
When finished, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category when creating a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to visitors. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the link category name)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Edit the link category)
In our example, the link category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s add a link category description. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update when done …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many link categories as you need.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the WP navigation menu …
(WP Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will load in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description fields – Add New Link)
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you type here is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address of the link category name. Use only lowercase letters without 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 your link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category link.
Also, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify how the link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on the link, a new, separate window will open up in their web browser to display the content for that link. This lets your visitors see the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on the 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. 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 …
(Link Relationship (XFN) fields – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Dhruv O’Malley and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes your links 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 specifies 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 using spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (You can leave the fields in this section empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Add New Link – Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: 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 can be displayed next to your link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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).
Enter information into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on Add Link 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 …
(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)
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 the link to display during certain periods and hide it afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all your links, select Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen. The table of links displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To view additional fields in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Display/hide fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Links table)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit a link in the Link Manager, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your links)
Make any changes you want to the link details …
(Edit Link page)
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 your link’s URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link …
(Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link you want removed and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to every link that you would like to delete, 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)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The selected links will be removed …
(Deleted links notice)
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 site.
Links Widget
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 select Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the active widget areas in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized menu using drag and drop)
The Links widget provides various configurable options. You can specify what information you want displayed about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and display specific a number of different lists of links on your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – 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. Your links will become visible 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 help using widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, search, and filter functionality.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Find Links Function
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(Find your links)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filtering links by link categories)
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 …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website, or if you would like 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, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you display a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin website.)
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, and 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 links so that your site users can become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Visit the plugin site to learn more about using this useful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
If you want to learn more about creating links in WordPress posts, see this article:
***
"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now