As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar menu 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 a featured links section on your site using the Link Manager plugin.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v.3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager was part of the dashboard menu until the release of WordPress v3.5)
After …
(Links – excluded from WordPress after WordPress v 3.5)
If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Links Manager would have been 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 the Links feature when you log into your WP dashboard you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
You can use this plugin to restore the built-in Links menu on your dashboard, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. The last time we 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links recreates the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow the instructions below:
In the WP 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 …
Find the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After you’ve activated the plugin, the ‘Links’ feature is restored to your WP admin menu area …
(WordPress links management menu)
Plugin Setup
Before you start adding links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. 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 your WP dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug appears in the URL of the link category name. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …
(Link Categories area)
Your link category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when creating a new link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can relate to. 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 assigned to the new category name …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the link category)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘XYZ Products’ etc).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, click on Links > Add New in the dashboard navigation menu …
(WP Links – 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 the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Address& Description – Add New Link)
Type in the following information:
- Name: What you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL part 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 you want the link to open when clicked on:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their web browser to display the content for that link. Your visitor will be able to access the information without leaving your page
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit your site and a new website 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. If you don’t use frames, or if you don’t know what frames are, then just ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Delilah Silva and you link to her 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 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 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting this site:
Advanced
The last section allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the 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 be displayed next to the links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes 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 into the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you add a link and then toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like a link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all the links you have created, go to your WP dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your browser. The list of links displays your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To view additional information in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Hide or display – List of links)
How To Edit Link Information
To modify a link in the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu to bring up your list of links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing your link information)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to your navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will display in your web browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all your links.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link title that you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkboxes next to individual links that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(links deleted message)
Using The Plugin
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 website or blog.
Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, select Appearance > Widgets in the main navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page.
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 in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides various options. For example, you can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar …
(Link widget - options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and feature specific different link sections throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Display links for a specific category …
(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)
When you have finished setting up the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your link section should show up immediately on your site’s sidebar …
(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 using widgets? To learn more about adding widgets, refer to this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Link Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with sorting, filtering, and searching functionality.
Sorting Links
To sort links, hover your 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 …
(You can find links using the search function)
Filtering Links
You can filter links by category …
(Filter your 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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)
This brings up a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to add a lot 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 a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer links.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you display a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, and all links listed in 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 for your link collection so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
Visit this website for more information about this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other sites in your WordPress sidebar menu.
Go here if you would like to learn more about adding HTML links to WordPress posts:
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