As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across references to the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or blogs that display on your sidebar.
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 manage a blogroll using the Links menu in your WordPress Dashboard. These links will display on your site if you have added the Links widget.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. After the release of version 3.5, the Link Manager section was kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature – included in the menu until the release of WP version 3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WP Links Manager)
If you were using the Links feature in previous versions of WordPress, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will remain hidden – it will not appear 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 Link Manager is not visible when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add and manage links on your sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
The Link Manager plugin displays the default Link Manager, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code to your installation 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 template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
Installing Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WordPress admin area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ item will show in your WP dashboard menu area …
(WordPress links menu)
Plugin Configuration
Before you start adding new links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, go to your navigation menu and click on Links > Link Categories …
(Links – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ page in your web browser.
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: What you enter here displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the 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)
after entering your information, click the Add New Link Category button …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will be added to the table …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category when adding a link, WordPress will assign 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 your site will automatically appear under the new category name …
(Change the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the default category name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Quick Edit)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on Update Link Category …
(Editing the link category name)
In our example, the category name ‘Blogroll’ has been replaced with an appropriate links section category name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s now add a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(You can add/edit the category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update you’re done to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat the above process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
After configuring your link categories, you can add your links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, click on Links > Add New in the main dashboard navigation menu …
(Links – Add New)
This brings up the ‘Add New Link’ page …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the main Links page …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section is where you enter details about your link …
(Add New Link screen – Name, Web Address, Description)
Enter information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the category name.
- Slug: The slug is the web address part of your link category. Only use lower case letters without 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 link …
(Categories & Target – Add New Link)
In the Categories section, tick a link category you have already set up, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ to create a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where your link should open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a separate web browser window will open up to display the content for that link. Your visitor can see the link information without leaving your site
- _none means that when a visitor clicks 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. 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 …
(Link Relationship (XFN) area)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) allows you to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Jessica Fields and you link to her blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional for WordPress links. You can ignore this section and all your links will work just fine. Defining relationships with 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 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. Separate multiple ‘rel’ attributes with spaces.
To learn more about XFN, visit the site below:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you enter Advanced features for your links (You can ignore this section, unless there’s a good reason to use it) …
(Add New Link page – Advanced fields)
The Advanced section fields include the following:
- Image Address: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the URL of where the image is stored and make sure that the image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed will display next to your links.
- 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 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 the Add Link button to save your new link …
(Click on Add Link to update your link settings)
Note: If you tick the checkbox next to Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making a link private lets you toggle link visibility on and off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to have seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added, go to your WP dashboard menu and select Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This takes you to the ‘Links’ page. The Links table displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. link URL, categories, rating, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To display or hide fields in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links page)
Show/hide information on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
How To Edit Your Link Information
To modify links, go to the main dashboard menu and choose Links > All Links to bring up your links table …
(WP Links – All Links)
Locate the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the link’s information …
(Editing links)
Edit the link fields …
(Edit Link screen)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up its URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Delete Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, select Links > All Links in the WP dashboard menu …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete multiple links, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you want to remove, or select all links by clicking on the main check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ pull-down menu, and click the Apply button to delete all selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
The links will be removed …
(Link deletion notification)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to configure link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, let’s show you how to make links display on your site.
Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to the WP dashboard menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page.
You will see that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your active widget bars in the Widgets screen and drop it wherever you want your links to show up …
(Add a links widget to a widgetized menu)
The Links widget provides a number of configurable settings. You can specify what information you want to display about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can also add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and feature link lists throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your widget bars)
You can create and display a list of items 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)
After setting up the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links will show up immediately on your sidebar, footer or whichever widgetized area you place the links widget in …
(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? If you want to learn more about adding widgets, refer to this article:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have added many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sorting, searching, and filtering functions.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the little black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(You can sort links)
Search Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Finding your links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(Filter links by 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 lots of links to your website, or if you want 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 your links.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library gives you the ability to display a list of your link categories and a complete list of all your links together with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)
Link Library creates a page on your web site that contains a list of all of the link categories in your Links area, 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 be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
For more details about using this WordPress plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add external links to WordPress.
We have written a comprehensive article about adding HTML links to your WordPress content. Go here to learn more about this:
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