As you continue to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
In WordPress terminology, a list of hyperlinks displayed on your sidebar menu is often 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.”
You can display links on your blog 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 hidden by default in new WordPress installations …
Before …
(WP Links Manager – pre version 3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager – excluded from WordPress after WordPress version 3.5)
If your blog the Link Manager was previously active on your website, then it will still be available when your WP installation upgrades to a newer version. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your website is new, then this function will become invisible – you won’t see it displayed on your 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 menu section is not displayed when you log into your WP admin area, you can add it via a plugin. This tutorial explains how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description Of Plugin
This plugin displays the built-in Links menu on your dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your existing links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of template code to restore the hidden feature. When we last 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 site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while addressing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website or blog, follow the step-by-step instructions below:
In your WordPress dashboard area, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Select the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type in “link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installation …
After activation, the ‘Links’ functionality will be restored to the WP sidebar menu …
(Links management menu section)
Configuring Link Manager
Before you start adding links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. 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 WP admin menu and choose Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ page in your browser.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of the link category name. It must all be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
When done, click the Add New Link Category button to save your new link category …
(Link Categories)
The new category will be added to the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: WordPress calls its default link category Blogroll . Unless you specify a category for a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category)
You may want to change this to something that your visitors can relate to. This not only makes it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to your site will automatically display under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something your visitors will understand)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the list item and click on Quick Edit …
(Edit the default link category name)
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 the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
In our example, the category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s create a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update finished to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process to add as many new link categories as your site needs.
After configuring your link categories, you can start adding new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, go to the main admin menu and select Links > Add New …
(WP Links – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Link’ screen in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links page …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page includes the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter details about your link in this section …
(Name, Web Address& Description)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Whatever you enter in this field is the category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address of the link category name. It must be in lowercase letters and contain no spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After typing in link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target area)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already created, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create 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 where you want your link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate window will open up in their browser to display the content for that link.
- _none means that when visitors click on your link, they will exit your site and a new site 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. 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 …
(Link Relationship (XFN) area – Add New Link page)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Florence Larsson and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can leave everything in this section blank and all of your links will still work. 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 lets you specify the ‘rel’ attribute that will be assigned to your link. The rel attribute specifies a relationship 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section lets you specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave the fields in this section blank unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced section)
The Advanced section contain the following fields:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add the URL of your image and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the RSS feed associated with the link can be displayed next to your link.
- Notes: This section lets you add notes for your own internal reference.
- Rating: Add a rating score to the link if you would like to sort links by rating (see the ‘Links’ widget section below).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section blank.
When you are done adding information about your link, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the Keep this link private checkbox, the link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Make your links private)
Making a link private allows you to toggle its visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you would like a link to display during certain times and hide it afterwards) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all your links, go to your WP navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your browser. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display additional columns in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Screen Options – Links screen)
Show/hide information on your table of links by ticking/unticking their checkboxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Link Information
To edit links in the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the WP admin menu to bring up the links page …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link details …
(Editing link information)
Make changes to your link fields …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing your link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to make sure that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link from your table …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To delete links from the Link Manager, go to your admin menu and choose Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ screen.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover over the link that you want to remove and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkbox next to each item that you want removed, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Deleting multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove all selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The links will be deleted …
(Deleted links message)
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 display your links on your website or blog.
Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the dashboard menu and click on Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.
You will see a ‘Links’ widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your widget sections in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you would like the links section to show up …
(Drag and drop the links widget to add it to your widget bar)
The Links widget offers a number of configurable options. You can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This allows you to add and feature link categories on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Select a link category to display specific links …
(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 options – Sorting options)
When you have finished setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links should become visible on your website’s sidebar …
(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 more help using widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on using widgets. Go here to learn more:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Links Manager plugin allows you to easily administer these using sort, search, and filter functions.
Sort Links Function
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 …
(Sort your links)
Find Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Finding links function)
Filter Your Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filtering links by link categories)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories screen. Use the ‘Search Link Categories’ button to find 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 grouped under 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 blog, or if you would like to add a ‘Links’ page 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.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin lets you output a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links plus descriptions and notes …
(Link Library links. Image sourced from Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links section, plus 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 for your link collection so that your site users can be made aware of additions to your link library.
Go here for more details about this handy plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to external websites and pages in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a comprehensive article on how to insert HTML links into WordPress posts. Go here to learn more:
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