As you continue to discover more about the benefits of using WordPress, you may occasionally come across the term blogroll.
WordPress refers to a list of links pointing to other websites or web pages that display on your sidebar area 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.”
The Links feature lets you easily add and manage links to a widget-ready theme.
Before the release of v 3.5, Links were a core feature of the WordPress CMS. From v3.5 onwards, the Links manager and blogroll sections were kept hidden by default in new installations …
Before …
(WordPress Links Feature – pre version 3.5)
After …
(The Link Manager – excluded from WordPress after WordPress v.3.5)
If you have had an earlier version of WordPress than v3.5 installed and upgraded your installation, the Link Manager would be removed, unless you have previously used it.
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 your main menu when you log into your WP admin area, you can add this feature via a plugin. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to add, edit, delete and manage blogroll links on your sidebar using WordPress plugins.
Link Manager
(Link Manager – WordPress Link Management Plugin)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager
Description
This plugin displays the built-in Links menu on your WP dashboard, even if you update to a later version of WordPress or remove all of your current links.
Note: This plugin adds a single line of template 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 the Link Manager plugin, then use the one below instead, or contact us for help editing your site’s template code.
Simple Links
(Simple Links)
Plugin URL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-links/
Description Of Plugin
Simple Links attempts to recreate the same concept as the built-in WP Link Manager while removing the shortcomings of the deprecated feature.
How To Install The Plugin
To install the Link Manager plugin on your website, follow the instructions below:
From the WP administration menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins – Add New)
Click on the Install Plugins > Search tab, then type ”link manager” into the search field and hit Enter …
Find the plugin in the results area and click Install Now …
Activate the plugin …
After activation, a ‘Links’ section will be displayed on the WP admin menu screen …
(Links management menu section)
Setting Up The Plugin
Before you start adding links, it’s a good idea to set up your link categories. This way, you can assign any new links to link categories you have already created.
Link Categories
To create a new link category, go to the WP dashboard menu and select Links > Link Categories …
(WordPress Links Menu – Link Categories)
The ‘Link Categories’ screen will load in your browser.
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: What you type in this field is the link category name that will display on your site.
- Slug: The slug is the search-engine friendly URL part of your link category. Only use lower case letters and do not include spaces (use hyphens to separate words).
- Description: Some themes may display your link category description.
When done, click Add New Link Category to save …
(Link Categories)
The new category will now show in the table …
(Link Categories)
Tip: Blogroll is the default link category name. Unless you specify the category for a new link, WordPress will assign new links to the default category …
(Default link category name is ‘blogroll’)
You may want to change this to something that will make sense to your blog readers. This not only makes it easier for users of your site, but any new links that you add to the Links section will automatically display under the new category name …
(Consider changing the default ’blogroll’ to something better suited to your business)
To change the ‘Blogroll’ link name, hover your mouse over the item and click on the Quick Edit link …
(Edit the default link category)
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), and click on Update Link Category …
(Edit the link category)
Replace the link category name ‘Blogroll’ with a more suitable name (e.g. ‘Recommended’, ‘Resources’ etc).
Let’s add a description for this link category. To add a link category description, click on the Edit link under the category name …
(Link category description)
Enter your link category description field and click Update …
(Edit Link Category page)
Repeat the above process to add as many link categories as your site requires.
After configuring your link categories, you can add new links.
Adding Links
To add a new link, go to your dashboard menu and click on Links > Add New …
(Links Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Link’ screen in your web browser …
(Add New Link page)
You can also access this page by clicking on ’Add New’ in the main Links screen …
(Add New Link button)
The ‘Add New Links’ page is divided into the following sections:
Name, Web Address & Description
The first section is where you enter your link details …
(Name, Web Addressand Description – Add New Link)
Type in information into the following fields:
- Name: Enter the category name here.
- Slug: The slug is the web address bit 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 in the links section, or as a tool tip when visitors hover over the link name.
Categories & Target
After typing in your link details, select a Category and Target for your new link …
(Categories & Target)
In the Categories section, select a link category you have already added, or click on ’+ Add New Category’ 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 your link should open when clicked on:
- _blank means that when visitors click on your link, a new, separate window will open up in their web browser to display the content for that link. Your visitor will be able to see the link information without leaving your website
- _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. Don’t worry about 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 – 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 Bruno Schwartz and you link to his blog, you would probably tick co-worker or colleague.
XFN relationships are optional. You can ignore this section and your links will work just fine. 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 what relationship exists 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 (You can leave these fields empty unless you have a reason to use them) …
(Advanced link settings – Add New Link page)
The Advanced link settings section contains the following:
- Image Address: Lets you specify an image to be displayed with the link. To use this feature, add the image URL and make sure that your image is small (around 16×16 like a favicon).
- RSS Address: If your theme allows it, the link’s RSS feed can display next to the 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 into the above fields or just leave this section blank, as these fields are not required.
When you are done adding your new link information, click on Add Link to save your new link …
(Click on the Add Link button to update your link settings)
Note: If you select the Keep this link private checkbox, your link will not be visible when links are displayed on your site …
(Make links private by checking the box)
Making links private lets you toggle link visibility on and off without deleting your links (this is useful if you would like links to display during certain periods and hide them when not required) …
(Toggle link visibility on and off)
To see all the links you have created, click on Links > All Links in your WP navigation menu …
(Links Menu – All Links)
This brings up the ‘Links’ screen in your browser. The Links screen displays all of your links and link information (e.g. URL, categories, visibility, etc.) …
(List of links)
Tip: To show or hide columns in the Links table, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of your screen …
(Screen Options – Links table)
Enable/disable fields on your Links table by selecting/deselecting their check boxes …
(Show/hide links)
Editing Link Information
To edit links, go to your admin menu and click on Links > All Links to bring up the links table …
(Links – All Links)
Select the link to be edited and click on Edit to bring up the item’s link information …
(Editing your links)
Edit the link information …
(Edit Link page)
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 …
(Update Link button)
Removing Links
To remove a link from the Link Manager, go to your admin menu and select Links > All Links …
(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 delete all your links at once.
To delete links individually, hover your cursor over the link that you want to remove from the link table and click on Delete …
(Deleting links)
To delete links in bulk, either tick the checkboxes next to individual links that you would like to remove, or select all links by clicking on the checkbox next to the ‘Name’ column header at the top of the list …
(Delete multiple links)
Select Delete from the ‘Bulk Actions’ menu, and click the Apply button to remove your selected links …
(Links: bulk-delete function)
The selected links will be deleted …
(links deleted notice)
Using The Plugin
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 website or blog.
Using The Links Widget
Installing the Link Manager plugin adds a ‘Links’ widget to your ‘Widgets’ section.
To access and configure your Link widgets, click on Appearance > Widgets in your WP navigation menu …
(WP Appearance – Widgets)
This brings up the ‘Widgets’ page in your browser.
You will notice that a ‘Links’ widget has been added to the Available Widgets section …
(Links widget)
To make the ‘Links’ widget active, drag the widget to one of your widget bars in the Widgets page and drop it wherever you want your links section to show up …
(Add a links widget to your widget bar)
The Links widget offers various configurable settings. For example, you can specify what information you want to show about your links and how many links you want displayed on your sidebar menu …
(Link widget - configurable options)
You can add as many link widgets as you want. This allows you to create and feature a number of link sections on your site …
(You can add a number of link widgets to your sidebar)
You can select a link category …
(Link widget settings – Select Link Category)
You can sort links by Link title, Link ID, Link rating, or display links in Random order …
(Link widget options – Sorting options)
Once you are done configuring the Links widget, click the Save button to update your settings. A links should show on your site …
(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 using widgets? We have written a detailed article on configuring 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 with filtering, searching, and sorting features.
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 black triangle displayed next to the column title …
(Sort your links)
Find Your Links
Type a search term into the search field and click the Search Links button to find links …
(Find links)
Filtering Your Links
You can filter links by link categories …
(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 …
(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 blog, or if you want 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, like Link Library.
Link Library
(Link Library)
Plugin Download URL
http://wordpress.org/plugins/link-library/
Plugin Description
Link Library gives you the ability to publish a list of your link categories with a complete list of links with descriptions and notes …
(List of links created with Link library. Screenshot taken from Link Library plugin site.)
Link Library can be used to create a page on your web site containing all the link categories in your Links section, and all links listed in 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 so that your site users can be made aware of any additions made to to your link library.
Go here to learn more about this useful plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to how to add and manage links to other websites and pages in your WordPress sidebar menu.
Go here for a detailed article about inserting HTML hyperlinks into WordPress posts:
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