As you continue to discover more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other sites or 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.”
You can display a featured links section on your sidebar or footer using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From v 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Manager – pre v.3.5)
After …
(Links is no longer part of WordPress after WordPress v3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v 3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Links 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 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 links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to display the Link Manager, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of template code to WordPress to restore the hidden feature. When we last 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – Links Manager Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
In your WP dashboard menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will get added to the navigation menu area …
(Links menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the admin menu …
(Links – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Whatever you type here displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the web address 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.
after entering your information, click Add New Link Category …
(Link Categories)
The link category will display in the list …
(Link Categories area)
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 name)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your visitors. 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 …
(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will relate to)
To change the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Editing the default link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, the category ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site requires.
Once you have configured your link categories, you can being adding new links.
How To Add New Links
To add a new link, go to your WP admin menu and choose Links > Add New …
(WordPress Links Menu – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will display in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section lets you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link screen – Name, Web Address& Description)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: What you enter here is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the SEO friendly URL bit of the link category name. Use lowercase letters only without 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.
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target section)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category.
Next, select a target frame for your link in the Target section by choosing one of the radio buttons. This lets you specify where your link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new, separate web browser window will open up to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will exit 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 section provides some additional link functionality …
(Add New Link – Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – is a way to define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Beckett Gould and you link to his blog, you would probably check co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with XFN makes the links defined on your site more understandable to some sites 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 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you enter Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. 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 your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link can display next to the links.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
- Rating: Add a rating score to the link if you want 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 information about your link, click on the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to save your new link)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(You can make links private by checking the box)
Making links private allows you to add links and then toggle their visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To see all your links, go to your admin menu and select Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your web browser. The table of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To view or hide information in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Hide or show – Links page)
How To Edit Link Information
To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the WP admin menu to bring up the links table …
(WP 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 the link details …
(Edit Link screen)
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 make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (the link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your list …
(Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, choose Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ page in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or delete all your links.
To delete individual links, hover your mouse cursor over the link title that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the check box next to every item that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
Your selected links will be removed …
(Deleted links notification)
Using The Plugin
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your website.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ screen.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your dashboard menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This takes you to the ‘Widgets’ screen.
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 the active widget sections and drop it wherever you would like the links section to display …
(Adding a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget offers a number of settings. You can specify what information you would like to display about your links and how many links you would like displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you create and display several link lists throughout your site …
(Add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display links for a specific category …
(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 your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links should appear on your site …
(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 comprehensive article about configuring widgets. To learn more about this go here:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filter, sort, and search functions.
Sort Links
You can sort links by hovering your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sorting links)
Finding Links Function
You can search for links using the ‘Search Links’ feature …
(Finding links)
Filter Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering 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 …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories page)
This displays a list of all links listed for a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link 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 your links.
Link Library
(Link Library Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library lets you publish a list of all your link categories with a complete list of all your links with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your website containing a list of all of the link categories in your Links section, and 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 for your links that lets your site users be made aware of additions to your link library.
Go here to learn more about the benefits of using this plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to external websites in WordPress.
If you want to learn more about inserting HTML links into WordPress posts and pages, see this article:
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