As you learn more about WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
A blogroll is a list of links pointing to other websites or pages that display 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 blog using the Link Manager plugin for WordPress.
Before WordPress v3.5 was released, Links were a visible feature of the WordPress CMS. From version 3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were removed …
Before …
(The Link Manager feature – part of the WordPress admin menu until the release of WP v 3.5)
After …
(The Links Manager feature is no longer part of WordPress after WP v 3.5)
If you’ve had an earlier version than v.3.5 installed and updated your installation, the Link Manager would be removed, unless you’ve previously used it. If you’ve never used the Links Manager feature, however, or if your WordPress installation is new, then this function will become invisible – it will not appear on the 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 a Links item on the main menu when you log into your WP backend, you can add it by installing a plugin. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add and manage blogroll links on your site’s sidebar using plugins.
Link Manager
(Links Manager WordPress Plugin)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Plugin Description
Use this plugin to display the default 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 your installation in order 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the plugin below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description
This plugin attempts to recreate the concept of the built-in Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install Link Manager
Let’s install the Link Manager plugin.
From your WordPress dashboard area, go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – 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 screen and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin after installation …
After activating the plugin, a ‘Links’ section will be displayed in the WP admin menu …
(WordPress links management menu)
Configuring The Plugin
Before adding links, we recommend setting up your link categories. This way, you can assign new links to the link category you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to your dashboard menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links – Link Categories)
You will be taken to the ‘Link Categories’ screen.
Enter information into the following fields:
- Name: What you enter in this field displays as the link category name.
- Slug: The slug is the URL part 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 a link category description. (Optional)
Click Add New Link Category to save your new link category name …
(Link Categories)
Your category details will now show in the list …
(Link Categories area)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for a link, WordPress automatically assigns new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this default WordPress link category name to something that your visitors can relate to. 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 …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link title, hover your mouse over the item and click on Quick Edit …
(Editing the link category)
Change both the Name and the Slug with a new category name, and click on the Update link Category button …
(Update Link Category)
In our example, we’ve replaced the category name ‘Blogroll’ with an appropriate links section name (e.g. ‘Recommended’).
Let’s insert a link category description. To add a description to an existing link category, click on Edit under the category name …
(You can add/edit your category description)
Add your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category screen)
Repeat this process and add as many link categories as you need.
After you have finished setting up your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To create a new link, select Links > Add New in the main dashboard menu …
(WP Links – Add New)
The ‘Add New Link’ page will load in your browser …
(Add New Link screen)
You can also reach this page by clicking on the ‘Add New’ button in the main Links screen …
(Links page – Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page has the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
Enter your link details in this section …
(Name, Web Address, Description)
Type in information into the following sections:
- Name: Enter the link category name.
- Slug: The slug displays in the URL 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. (Optional)
Categories & Target
After adding your link details, select a Category and Target for the link …
(Categories & Target area – Add New Link screen)
In the Categories section, tick one of the link categories you have already set up, or click on the ‘+ Add New Category’ link to create a new category.
Next, select a target frame radio button for your link in the Target section. This lets you specify where the link should open when a visitor clicks on it:
- _blank means that a new, separate window will open up in their browser to display the content for that link. This allows your visitors to see the link information without leaving your page
- _none means that when a visitor clicks on your link, they will exit 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 ignore this option.
Link Relationship XFN
This section provides some additional link functionality …
(Link Relationship (XFN) section – Add New Link)
Link Relationship (XFN) – XFN (XML Friends Network) is a way to define your relationship to the linked person. For example, if you have a professional relationship with Jessica Smith 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 your links will work just fine. 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 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.
To learn more about XFN, visit this site:
Advanced
The last section of the Add New Link’ page lets you specify Advanced features for your links (some themes will ignore this. You can leave these fields empty unless there’s a good reason to use them) …
(Add New Link screen – Advanced fields)
The Advanced section fields are as follows:
- Image Address: 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 will be displayed next to your link.
- Notes: Add notes about the link in this section 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).
Type in your information into the above fields or just leave this section ignore this section.
When you have finished adding information about your link, 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 Keep this link private, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Private link checkbox)
Making links private lets you add links and then toggle their visibility on or off without deleting these (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain times and hide them when not required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see a list of all your links, go to your WP navigation menu and select Links > All Links …
(WP Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ page will load in your browser. The Links screen displays your links and link information (e.g. link URL, link categories, relationship, etc.) …
(Links screen)
Tip: To view additional information in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab at the top of the screen …
(List of links – Screen Options)
Show/hide fields on your table of links by selecting/deselecting their checkboxes …
(Show/hide – Links table)
Editing Link Information
To modify links, click on Links > All Links in your WP dashboard navigation menu to bring up the links page …
(Links Menu – All Links)
Select the item to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing your links)
Change your link details …
(Edit Link page)
After editing the link, you can:
- Click the Update Link button to save your link details,
- Click on Visit Link to view your link and make sure that you have set up the link’s URL correctly (your link will open in a new window),
- Click Delete to delete the link if it’s no longer required …
(Edit Link: Update Link button)
How To Remove Links
To delete a link, click on Links > All Links in your navigation menu …
(WordPress Links – All Links)
The ‘Links’ screen will display in your browser.
You can delete links individually, delete multiple links by selecting their check boxes, or remove all links at once.
To delete individual links, hover your cursor over the link title that you want removed and click Delete …
(Deleting your links)
To delete links in bulk, either click on the check boxes next to individual links that you want to delete, or select all links by clicking on the check box next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Deleting multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop menu, and click Apply to delete your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
Your links will be removed …
(links deleted notice)
Using The Link Manager 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 or blog.
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 the dashboard navigation menu and choose Appearance > Widgets …
(Appearance Menu – Widgets)
The ‘Widgets’ page will load 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 areas in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want your links section to display …
(Adding a links widget to your WordPress widget bar)
The Links widget provides a number of configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you would like displayed about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable settings)
You can also add multiple link widgets to your sidebars and footers. This lets you create and feature specific multiple link lists on your site …
(Add a number of link widgets to your widget bars)
You can add and display a list of items for a specific category …
(Link widget options – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link ID, Link rating, Link title, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
After setting up the links widget, click Save to update your settings. Your link section should appear on your site …
(An example of how links can be displayed on your site’s 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 with widgets? We have written a comprehensive article on widgets. Go here to learn more:
Link Manager – Additional Information
If you have loads of links, the Links Manager plugin lets you easily administer these using filter, sort, and search functions.
Sort Your Links
To sort links, hover your mouse cursor over the title of the column you want to sort and click on the black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort links)
Search Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Search links)
Filtering Links
You can filter links by link category …
(Filtering links by link categories)
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 category 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 link category)
Additional Link Options
If you plan to add lots of links to your site, or if you intend to add a page containing a list of links to your site (i.e. not just add links on your sidebar), then you may want to consider using a plugin that can help you administer your links.
Link Library
(Link library – Plugin For WordPress)
Plugin URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
This plugin lets you display a list of your link categories with a complete list of all your links plus notes and descriptions …
(Link Library links. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin website.)
This useful plugin creates a page on your web site that contains a list of all of 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 links that lets your site users become aware of any additions made to to your link library.
For more information about the benefits of using this useful plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links in your WordPress sidebar menu.
We have written a detailed article on how to add HTML hyperlinks in WordPress. Go here to learn more:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)