As you discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar menu is sometimes 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.”
The Links Manager lets you add and manage a links section to a widgetized theme.
Prior to the release of WP v3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v.3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Manager Feature – pre v.3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links feature)
If you have had an earlier version than v.3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, the Link 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 the Links feature is not visible when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin displays the default 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 restore the hidden feature. When we last checked, the 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)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WP dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, WordPress displays a ‘Links’ section in the dashboard menu …
(WordPress links management menu)
Plugin Configuration
We recommend setting up your link categories first before you start adding new 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, choose Links > Link Categories in your admin menu …
(WP Links – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ page in your browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter in this field will display as the category your links will be assigned to.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category name. It must all be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress will 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 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 …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name (remember to keep the slug in lowercase letters and replace all spaces with a hyphen), then click on Update Link Category …
(Edit the default link category)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Resources’ etc).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Add your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ screen and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many link categories as your site needs.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can start adding your links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into a number of sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address, Description – Add New Link screen)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears in the SEO friendly URL 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link page)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how the link should open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when visitors click on the link, a new web browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will leave your site and a new website or page will load in your browser window instead.
- _top opens the link 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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN))
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you work with Holden Jenkins and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section 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 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, 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 allows you to 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 screen)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of your image 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 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, as these are not essential for links to work.
When you have finished adding information about your link, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(Make your links private)
Making links private allows you to toggle link visibility on and off without deleting these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain times and hide them afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ page. The Links page displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To display or hide columns in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Enable/disable information on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Table of links)
Editing Your Link Information
To modify links, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your link information)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and check that you have set up your link’s URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your link table if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
Deleting Your Links
To remove a link, select Links > All Links in your dashboard navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all your links at once.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check box next to each link that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pull-down menu, and click Apply to remove all selected links …
(Bulk-deletion of links)
The links will be removed …
(Link deletion message)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to display links on your website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Appearance – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your widget sections and drop it wherever you want the links to display …
(Add a links widget to your WordPress widget bar)
The Links widget offers various options. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget options)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and feature a number of links sorted by categories on your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ dropdown menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sort by options)
When you have finished configuring the links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links should show on your sidebar, footer or wherever you have placed the widget in …
(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 more help using widgets? We have written a detailed article on configuring widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filtering, searching, and sorting functions.
Sort 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 …
(Sorting links)
Search Links Function
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(You can search your links using the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by categories …
(Filter your links by categories)
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 category links in the ‘Links’ column …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories page)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under 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 blog, or if you intend 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 look at using a plugin that can help you administer links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin lets you output a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Image: Link Library plugin documentation.)
This 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 section, 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 links that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.
For more information about this plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
To learn more about inserting links into WordPress posts & pages, see this article:
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie