As you continue to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to other sites or pages that display on your sidebar menu.
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 add a blogroll using the Links menu in your WP Dashboard. These links will display on your blog if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After v 3.5, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager – included in the menu until the release of WP v.3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager feature – no longer shown in WordPress after WordPress version 3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, then the Link Manager would be 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 the Links Manager section when you log into your WordPress admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn 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
Plugin Description
This plugin restores the built-in Links feature on your dashboard, even if you update 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. 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 this 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 Of Plugin
This plugin recreates the concept of the built-in WordPress Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
Plugin Installation
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WordPress administration menu, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Locate the plugin in the search results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installing it …
After activation, the ‘Links’ functionality will be restored to the admin menu …
(Links menu)
Plugin Setup
We recommend setting up link categories first before you start adding links. This way, when adding a new link, you can assign your link to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to your admin menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(Links Menu – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you enter here is the link 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. (Optional)
When done, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
Your new category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for 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 readers. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically appear under 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 item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Replace 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 the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, the category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with a more suitable category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many link categories as your site requires.
Once you have set up your link categories, you can start adding your links.
Adding New Links
To create a new link, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(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 area)
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the search-engine friendly URL 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding your link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create 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 how you want your link to open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their web browser to display the content associated with the link. This lets your visitors see the information without leaving your site
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new site or page will load in your web 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 ignore this option.
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 Jackson Cooper and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and your links will still work. XFN makes the links defined on your site 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 is used to define 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page 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 – Add New Link screen)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the 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 will be displayed next to the link.
- 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 want to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these are not essential.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to toggle link visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To view or hide fields in the Links page, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Table of links – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your table of links by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Table of links – Show/hide screen options)
Editing Your Link Information
To modify a link in the Link Manager, go to your dashboard menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up your links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing your link information)
Edit the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To remove a link, click on Links > All Links in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will display in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or remove all of your links at once.
To delete links individually, hover over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check box next to each item that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pull-down menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-deletion function)
All the links you have selected will be deleted …
(Deleted links message)
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 or blog.
Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of the widget areas in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want the links to display …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar using drag and drop)
The Links widget includes various settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like to show about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This allows you to add and display link sections throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
Display a list of links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link title, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your link section should show up immediately on your website’s sidebar menu …
(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 more help with widgets? We have written a detailed article about using widgets. For more info, see this article:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filtering, sorting, and searching functionality.
Sorting 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 your links)
Searching Links
You can find links using the ‘Search Links’ function …
(Finding your links)
Filter Links
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 …
(searching and filtering links in the Link Categories screen)
This brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Additional Link 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 links on your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you output a list of 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.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, plus 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 of your link collection that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more this WordPress plugin, visit the plugin site:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites and pages in WordPress.
Go here if you want to learn more adding links to WordPress posts:
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