As you continue to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or web pages that display on your sidebar section 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.”
The Links Manager lets you easily add and manage external hyperlinks to your WordPress sidebar section (e.g. a “Resources” section) using widgets.
Before WordPress version 3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WP Links Feature – pre v3.5)
After …
(Post v.3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and upgraded 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 the Link Manager section when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin displays the Links Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code to your installation in order 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WP administration menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item is added to your WP admin menu …
(Links management menu)
Setting Up Link Manager
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding links. This way, you can assign any new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, click on Links > Link Categories in the dashboard navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ page will display in your web browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address of the link category. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …
(Link Categories page)
Your new category will now show in the list …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when creating 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 blog readers. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically be listed under 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 list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the default link category)
Replace both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Special Deals’ etc).
Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process and add as many new link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the admin menu …
(Links – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main 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 …
(Add New Link – Name, Web Address& Description fields)
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you type in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the search-engine friendly URL of the link category. 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 the new link …
(Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you’ve already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add 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 your link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new, separate window will open up in their web browser to display the information associated with the link.
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit 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. 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) – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Zane Jones and you link to his blog, you would probably tick 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. XFN makes your links more understandable to some sites and search engines that use this information.
rel – This field lets you specify the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute defines what relationship exists 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’ attributes with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave the fields in this section empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Add New Link – Advanced area)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. 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 link’s RSS feed will be displayed next to your link.
- 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 are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link 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 Links section …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, choose Links > All Links in your navigation menu …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ table will load in your web browser. The list of links displays all your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To view additional columns in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Links screen – Screen Options)
Show/hide information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide – Links screen)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit a link, select Links > All Links in the navigation menu to bring up the links screen …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your link information)
Make changes to your link information …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and make sure that you have set up everything correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To remove a link, click on Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all of your links.
To delete links individually, hover your mouse cursor over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete multiple links, either tick the checkbox next to each item that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links you have selected will be deleted …
(Link deletion notice)
Plugin Usage
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.
Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the main navigation menu …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load in your web browser.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of the widget bars and drop it wherever you would like the links to show up …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides various settings. 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 options)
You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and feature a number of different links sorted by categories throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
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 title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should become visible on your sidebar, footer or whichever widget-ready area you place the links widget in …
(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 detailed article on configuring widgets. For more details:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sort, search, and filter features.
Sorting Links
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can easily sort links)
Finding Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(You can find links using the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filter your links by link 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 for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Links – Additional Options
If you plan to use links extensively on your website or blog, 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Download 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 links plus descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Image sourced from Link Library plugin site.)
This useful plugin creates 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. 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 that lets your site users be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more this WordPress plugin, visit the plugin website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article about how to add HTML links into your WordPress content. Go here to learn more about this:
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