As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to external sites or web pages displayed on your sidebar area.
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 links section on your site using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress v.3.5 was released, Links were a built-in feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(The Links Manager feature – included in the WordPress dashboard menu until the release of WordPress version 3.5)
After …
(Post v 3.5 – no WordPress Links Manager feature)
If your site had the Link Manager installed, then it will still be available when you upgrade to newer WordPress versions. If you’ve never used Links Manager, however, or if your site installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not appear 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 you can’t see the Links Manager section when you log into your WP admin area you will need to install a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
You can use this plugin to display the default Links feature on your dashboard, even if you update WordPress to a later version or remove all of your current links.
Note: All this plugin does is add a single line of code 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 this plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links recreates 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, type in “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, WordPress adds a ‘Links’ item to the sidebar menu area …
(Links menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before adding any new links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a link category, choose Links > Link Categories in the main dashboard menu …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
This loads the ‘Link Categories’ screen in your browser.
Enter the following information:
- Name: What you type in this field will display as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug appears 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 your link category description.
When finished, click Add New Link Category to save your new link category …
(Link Categories page)
Your new category will be added to the list …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress will automatically assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change the default link category name to something better suited to your business. This will not only make it easier for visitors, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically be listed under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default link category name to something better suited to your business)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the category name and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the default link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, then click on the Update link Category button …
(Quick Edit)
Replace the category ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Related Products’ etc).
Let’s insert a description for this link category. To add a link category description, hover over the item name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat this process and add as many new link categories as your site requires.
After configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
How To Add Links
To create a new link, choose Links > Add New in the navigation menu …
(Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ screen will load in your browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also reach this screen by clicking on ’Add New’ at the top of the main Links screen …
(Links – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Addressand Description fields – Add New Link)
Type in the following information:
- Name: What you type here will display as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL bit of your link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name with their mouse. (Optional)
Categories & Target
Select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select a link category you’ve already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add a new category link.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where the link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a separate window will open up in their web browser to display the information associated with the link.
- _none means that when visitors click on the link, they will leave 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 ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This area 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 have a professional relationship with Jordan Anderson 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 still work. XFN makes your links 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 a 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.
You can learn more about XFN by visiting the site below:
Advanced
The last section allows you to enter Advanced features for your links (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: Specify an image to be displayed with the link. Add an image URL 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 will display next to your 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).
Enter information in the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
When you have finished adding information about your link, 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, the link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make your links private)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on or off without deleting your links (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view all the links you have added, go to the main dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This loads the ‘Links’ page in your web browser. The Links screen displays a list of all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(Links page)
Tip: To display additional information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Table of links)
Display/hide fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Table of links – Hide or display screen options)
Editing Links
To edit links, choose Links > All Links in the dashboard navigation menu to bring up your list of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Locate the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing links)
Make changes to the link …
(Edit Link screen)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up everything correctly (the link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link from your table of links if you no longer require it …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To delete links, go to your WP dashboard navigation menu and click on Links > All Links …
(Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ table.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links, or perform a bulk delete.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the checkboxes next to individual items that you want to remove, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
Your links will be deleted …
(links deleted notification)
Using The Link Manager 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 website.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, go to your navigation menu and select Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ screen in your web browser.
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 want the links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to your sidebar)
The Links widget provides various configurable options. 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 - options)
You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This lets you create and feature link categories throughout your site …
(You can add multiple link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category from the ‘Select Link Category:’ pulldown menu …
(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)
Once you are done configuring the links widget, click Save to update your settings. A links should appear on your website …
(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 with widgets? We have written a comprehensive article about adding widgets. Go here to learn more about this:
Links Manager – Additional Information
If you have many links, the Link Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with sort, filter, and search functionality.
Sort Your Links
You can sort links by hovering your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Find Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button …
(Search links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by 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 …
(Search and filter links in the Link Categories screen)
This displays a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by category)
Links – Additional 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 a links section to your sidebar), then you may want to look at using a plugin that can help you administer your links, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link library – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you publish a list of all your link categories and a complete list of links together with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image: Link Library plugin site.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your web site 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 of your link collection that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
To learn more about using this plugin, visit the plugin website:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add a blogroll and manage links to other websites and pages in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a comprehensive article on how to easily insert links into WordPress. Go here to learn more about this:
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