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 links pointing to other websites or web 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 links on your sidebar or footer using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of v 3.5, the Links Manager section was hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WP Links Manager Feature – pre v3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager feature is no longer included in WordPress after WordPress v 3.5)
If you’ve used an earlier version of WordPress than 3.5 and updated your installation, then the Link Manager would be removed, unless you have previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links feature, however, or if your website is new, then this function will become invisible – you won’t see it on the dashboard menu.
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 WP dashboard, you can add this feature by installing a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the built-in Links feature on your WP dashboard, even if you upgrade WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code 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 this plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Links Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WordPress Links Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Plugin Installation
To install the Link Manager plugin on your site, follow these step-by-step instructions:
In the WP admin area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then 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 …
Once you have activated the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will show on your WP admin menu …
(WordPress links menu)
Configuring The Plugin
We recommend setting up your link categories first before adding links. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, select Links > Link Categories in the WP admin menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your web browser.
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL part 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 Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories page)
Your new category will display in the list …
(Link Categories page)
Tip: The default WordPress link category is called Blogroll . Unless you specify the category when creating a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this default link category name to something better suited to your business. 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 better suited to your business)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing the link category name)
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)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘XYZ Products’ etc).
Let’s now add a link category description. To add a link category description, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as you need.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can add your links.
How To Add New Links
To create a new link, go to your dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes various sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Address, Description fields – Add New Link screen)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type here is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the URL of the link category name. Use lowercase letters only and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display a link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the new link …
(Add New Link screen – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already created, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to add a new category.
Also, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify how your link should open when visitors click on it:
- _blank means that when a visitor clicks on your link, a new browser window will open up to display the information associated with the link. This lets your visitors access the link information without leaving your site
- _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 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – 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 Austin Silva 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 your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes the links defined on your site 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 is used to define 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. Other ‘rel’ attributes include author, index, start, help, etc.
To learn more about XFN, visit 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) …
(Add New Link – Advanced section)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following options:
- 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 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 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 in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you have finished 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 tick Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Links section …
(You can make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making links private allows you to add links and then toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you want links to display during certain times and hide them when they are no longer required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, go to your WP admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(WP Links Menu – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ page. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Table of links)
Tip: To display additional fields in the list of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Links table – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by ticking/unticking their check boxes …
(Hide or display – Table of links)
Editing Links
To edit links in the Link Manager, go to the WP dashboard navigation menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up the table of links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Edit the link information …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to see your link and check that you have set up everything 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 …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
Removing Your Links
To remove links, select Links > All Links in the WP navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your web browser.
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 title that you want to remove and click Delete …
(Delete your links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the checkboxes next to individual links that you would like deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pulldown menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links will be removed …
(Link deletion notice)
Using The Plugin
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 site.
Links Widget
The Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP admin menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Appearance Menu – Widgets)
You will be taken to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
You will notice a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of the active widget areas in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget provides a number of settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Link widget - settings)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar. This lets you add and feature lists of links on your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pull-down menu …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget settings – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring your links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links will now appear on your site …
(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 help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about configuring widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these with searching, filtering, and sorting features.
Sorting Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort your links)
Find Links
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(You can find links with the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by category …
(Filter links by 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 …
(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 lots of links to 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.
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 your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin documentation.)
This plugin can be used to create a page on your site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, and all links defined for 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 of your link collection so that your site users can become aware of additions to your link library.
Go here to learn more this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to your WordPress sidebar.
We have written a comprehensive article on adding links to WordPress posts & pages. Go here to learn more about this:
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"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