As you become more familiar with WordPress, you may occasionally come across something called a blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of hyperlinks pointing to external websites or web pages displayed on your sidebar menu.
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 add a link section using the Links menu in your WordPress Dashboard. These links will then display on your website if you have added the Links widget.
Prior to the release of WordPress v 3.5, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. After version 3.5, the Links Manager section was removed …
Before …
(WordPress Links Manager Feature – pre v3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature – excluded from the WordPress menu after WordPress version 3.5)
If your website this feature was previously active on your site, then it will still be available when your installation updates to a newer version. If you’ve never used the Links Manager feature, however, or if your WordPress 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 feature when you log into your WordPress dashboard you will need to install a plugin. In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
You can use this plugin to restore the built-in Links Manager, even if you upgrade to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your existing links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of code 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 one below instead, or contact us for help editing your template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Plugin Description
Simple Links attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in WP Links Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated functionality.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin, follow these step-by-step instructions:
From your WordPress 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 search results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, the ‘Links’ feature is restored to the WP admin menu …
(Links management menu section)
Plugin Configuration
Before you start adding new links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, when you create a new link, you can assign the link to a link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, select Links > Link Categories in your WP dashboard menu …
(WP Links – Link Categories)
This brings up the ‘Link Categories’ page.
Type in the following information:
- Name: Enter the link category name here.
- Slug: The slug shows up in the web address of the link category name. Only use lower case letters and do not include 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 to save …
(Link Categories area)
The link category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify a category when adding 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 to something that your visitors can understand. This will not only make 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 …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something your visitors will relate to)
To edit the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the category name and click on Quick Edit …
(Quick Edit)
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 Update Link Category …
(Update Link Category)
Replace the category name ‘Blogroll’ with a name more suitable to your purposes (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Links’ etc).
Let’s create a description for this link category. To add a description to an existing link category, hover over the link category name and click Edit …
(Link category description)
Enter your description in the ‘Edit Link Category’ page and click Update finished to save your settings …
(Edit Link Category area)
Repeat this process to add as many different link categories as your site needs.
After configuring your link categories, you can being adding new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, select Links > Add New in the admin menu …
(Links – Add New)
You will be taken to the ‘Add New Link’ screen …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has several sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
This section is where you enter details about your link …
(Name, Web Address, Description – Add New Link screen)
Enter the following information:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug appears in the web address of the link category. Only use lower case letters without spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
Categories & Target
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Add New Link – Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select one of the link categories you’ve already added, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to add 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 how you want the link to open when clicked on by visitors:
- _blank means that a new window will open up in their browser to display the information for that link.
- _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 area provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN stands for XML Friends Network – lets you define your relationship with the linked person. For example, if you work with Megan Silva 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 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 specifies 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 allows you to specify Advanced features for your links (You can leave these fields blank unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Advanced link settings)
The Advanced link settings section includes the following options:
- 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 RSS feed associated with the link will display next to the 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 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 have finished adding your new link information, click on the Add Link button to update your link settings …
(Click on the Add Link button to save your new link)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible in your Blogroll section …
(Make links private by selecting the checkbox)
Making a link private allows you to toggle its visibility on or off without deleting it (this is useful if you want to use seasonal links) …
(Making links private toggles their visibility on and off)
To view a list of all the links you have added, select Links > All Links in the navigation menu …
(WP Links – All Links)
You will be taken to the ‘Links’ screen. The list of links displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, link categories, rating, etc.) …
(Links table)
Tip: To display additional fields in the table of links, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(Links page – Screen Options)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Hide or show – Links screen)
Editing Your Links
To modify a link, click on Links > All Links in the main admin menu to bring up your table of links …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item you want to edit and click on Edit to bring up the link’s details …
(Editing link information)
Make the changes you want to your link information …
(Edit Link page)
After you’re done editing the link, you can:
- Click on Update Link to save and update your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to check that you have set up your link’s URL correctly (your link will open up in a new window),
- Click Delete to remove the link if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Your Links
To remove links from the Link Manager, click on Links > All Links in the dashboard menu …
(WP Links – 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 individual links, hover over the link title that you want removed and click Delete …
(Delete links)
To delete a number of links at once, either tick the check box next to each item that you want deleted, or select all links by clicking on the main checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header …
(Delete multiple links)
Choose Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click Apply to remove your selected links …
(Bulk-delete links)
Your links will be removed …
(links deleted notification)
Plugin Usage
Now that you know how to set up link categories and how to add, edit and delete links, it’s time to make links display on your site.
Using The Links Widget
The Links Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ page.
To access and configure your Link widgets, choose Appearance > Widgets in the main admin menu …
(WP Appearance Menu – Widgets)
This loads the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
Drag the ‘Links’ widget to one of your widget sections and drop it wherever you would like your links section to show up …
(Drag & drop your links widget to add it to your WordPress sidebar)
The Links widget provides a number of configurable options. You can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you would like to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebar and footer. This allows you to add and display several links sorted by categories throughout your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
Display links for a specific category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link rating, Link title, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
After setting up your Links widget, click Save to update your settings. A link section should display on your 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? Go here for a detailed article about using widgets:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these with filtering, sorting, and searching functionality.
Sorting Links Function
You can sort links by hovering your mouse over the title of the column you want to sort and clicking on the little triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort your links)
Find Your Links
Find links using the ‘Search Links’ button …
(You can easily search links using the search function)
Filtering Links Function
You can filter links by link category …
(Filter your links by link category)
You can also search and filter links in the Link Categories page. 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 brings up a list of all links grouped under a specific link category …
(Links filtered by link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your website, or if you intend to add a ‘Links’ page 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 links.
Link Library
(Link Library WordPress Plugin)
Download Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
The Link Library plugin lets you publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links together with notes and descriptions …
(List of links created with Link library. Image source: Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin can be used to create a page on your 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 that lets your site users become aware of additions to your link library.
To learn more about Link Library:
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a blogroll to WordPress.
We have written a detailed article about adding HTML links in WordPress posts. For more details:
***
"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