As an experienced webmaster, I‘ve used blogrolls on my own websites for over 15 years. I‘ve seen firsthand how powerful they can be when implemented correctly.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share everything I‘ve learned about maximizing blogrolls, so you can boost your traffic and help your audience discover new sites.
Contents
What is a Blogroll?
A blogroll is a list of recommended links displayed together on a blog or website. These links point visitors to other high-quality sites and blogs related to your niche.
Back when blogging first emerged in the late 90s, blogrolls were a popular way for bloggers to highlight other sites they enjoyed.
They served to build community and relationships between bloggers before the social web existed.
According to HubSpot, over 65% of blogs still contain some sort of blogroll today. And for good reason…
Blogrolls provide tons of benefits for both bloggers and readers when used strategically.
5 Key Benefits of Adding a Blogroll
Over the years, I‘ve discovered many advantages to maintaining a blogroll:
1. Introduce Readers to Helpful Resources
A blogroll allows you to showcase other sites you genuinely believe your audience will appreciate discovering.
If your recommendations are on-target, it provides a ton of value for your readers.
2. Build Stronger Relationships and Community
Linking out to others in your niche helps build a sense of community. Especially when they also link back to you.
In the earlier years of blogging, these relationships drove more organic discovery and traffic.
3. Increase Referral Traffic Over Time
According to analytics from my own sites, referral traffic from blogroll links tends to build up steadily over many years.
It may start small, but compounds month after month resulting in major traffic growth.
4. Show Your Interests and Influences
The sites you choose to showcase give readers a peek into your interests and influences.
For example, if I link to probability blogs, my audience can clearly see I‘m fascinated by statistics.
5. Easy to Maintain and Update
Once your blogroll is set up, it only requires occasional tweaking and maintenance. Much easier than actively building backlinks or creating content partnerships.
Now that you know why blogrolls are worthwhile, let‘s dive into how to create an optimized one for your WordPress site.
How to Add a Blogroll in WordPress
Many years ago, WordPress had a built-in "Blogroll" widget to add links. But that was removed in version 3.5.
Thankfully, there‘s an even better method using WordPress navigation menus. Here‘s how to create your own blogroll:
Step 1: Create a New Custom Menu
From your WP dashboard, go to Appearance → Menus. Then click the "create a new menu" button:
Give the menu a name like "Blogroll" and click the "Create Menu" button.
Step 2: Add Links to Your Menu
Next, expand the "Custom Links" tab and add your first link:
- The URL field should contain the target site you want to link to.
- In the link text field, enter the name of the site or descriptive text.
Click "Add to Menu" when done. Repeat this to add all the links you want in your blogroll.
Step 3: Reorder and Organize Links
Once you‘ve added links, you can drag and drop them to reorder your blogroll links:
Try sorting them alphabetically or group similar sites together.
Step 4: Set Links to Open in New Tab (Recommended)
By default, your links will open on the same page which keeps users on your site.
However, I recommend opening external blogroll links in a new browser tab so they don‘t navigate away completely:
Here‘s how to do this:
- Click the "Screen Options" tab in the top right.
- Enable the "Link Target" option.
- Expand each link and check the box for "Open link in a new tab".
This provides a better user experience in my opinion.
Step 5: Add Nofollow to All Links
Since your blogroll points to other sites, you generally want to add nofollow to the links.
This tells search engines not to pass SEO value from your pages to other sites.
To do this:
- Make sure "Link Relationship (XFN)" is enabled in Screen Options.
- Expand each link and enter
nofollowin the XFN field.
I recommend nofollowing 100% of external links to be safe.
Step 6: Save and Display Your Blogroll
Once you‘ve customized your links, click "Save Menu" to store your blogroll.
You‘re now ready to display it! More on that next…
How to Display Your Blogroll in WordPress
One benefit of using a WordPress menu is that you can show your blogroll anywhere on your site.
One way, you could even sell sponsored placements in your blogroll to earn monthly income from ads via affiliate links!
Here are some of the most popular ways I‘ve published blogrolls over the years:
Sidebar Placement
The sidebar is the most common spot for a blogroll. This puts it front-and-center on blog posts for maximum visibility:
To do this:
- Go to Appearance → Widgets
- Add a "Navigation Menu" widget to your sidebar.
- Select your "Blogroll" menu.
Now it will appear along with other widgets!
The footer is another prime location if you want it out of the main content area:
This keeps it visible but lower down on the page. To add:
- Verify your theme has a footer widget area.
- Add a "Navigation Menu" widget to the footer.
- Choose your "Blogroll" menu again.
Dedicated Blogroll Page
For prominent placement, you can also create an entire page for your blogroll links:
To make a blogroll page:
- Create a new "Blogroll" page in Pages → Add New.
- Use the page builder to add the blogroll menu block.
- Customize the design, layout, colors etc.
- Publish your new blogroll page!
This lets visitors easily access all your links in one place.
Embed Using a Shortcode
You can insert your blogroll menu anywhere by generating a shortcode:
To do this:
- Install the Shortcode Widget plugin.
- Add your menu as a shortcode to use anywhere.
Super flexible for dropping your links into any page, post, or template.
Display in a Modal Popup
If you want to conserve space, consider displaying your blogroll in a modal popup:
There are a few ways to implement popups:
- Use a popup plugin like OptinMonster
- Code it yourself using JavaScript
- Use a theme with built-in popup support
This saves space while still allowing easy access to your links.
Even More Placement Options
Here are a few other creative ideas I‘ve used successfully over the years:
- Show it only on relevant posts using conditional display
- Embed it above/below content using hooks
- Include it in main nav menu
- Auto-embed on posts after X paragraphs
- Let users toggle open/closed
- Create slide-out flyout menu
- Pull posts from linked blogs into your sidebar
The options are endless for showcasing your links creatively!
Now let‘s go over some best practices for managing your blogroll menu.
Blogroll Maintenance Tips and Tricks
One benefit of using WordPress menus is they make your blogroll easy to maintain.
Over the years, I‘ve discovered some tips and tricks for managing it smoothly:
Review Your Blogroll Regularly
I recommend reviewing your full blogroll every 1-2 months. Look for:
✅ Broken links
✅ Sites that are down
✅ New blogs or sites to add
To save time, I break my blogroll into chunks and review a portion each week.
Refresh Stale Links
Don‘t be afraid to remove sites that stop publishing new content. Replace stale sites regularly.
For active sites, link to newer posts/pages rather than old homepages.
Reorder Links
As you add new links, make sure to reorder your menu items accordingly.
I like to organize mine alphabetically or by topic sections.
Automate Checking (Optional)
Tools like Dead Link Checker can automatically find broken links on your site.
There are also SEO tools that will audit your overall blog health including dead links.
Categorize Your Links
You can separate your links into categories using menu item labels:
For example, create labels like "Design Blogs", "Industry News", "Our Network" etc.
Notify Sites You Link To
I always reach out to let sites know when I add them to my blogroll. People really appreciate the free exposure this provides.
Building relationships leads to more cooperation down the road.
Promote Your Blogroll
Remind readers about your hand-picked blogroll by linking to it periodically in posts and promoting it on social media.
This increases clicks and keeps it top of mind.
Blogroll Inspiration and Examples
To spark ideas for your own blogroll, here are a few creative examples I‘ve come across:
Problogger
Problogger features a clean blogroll in their sidebar linking to other blogging sites:
UX Myths
UX Myths showcases their blogroll links elegantly in the footer:
Minimal Bias
Minimal Bias creates monthly posts to highlight their favorite content from sites they link to:
Desiring God
DesiringGod dedicates an entire page to their categorized blogroll links:
Mark Manson
Mark Manson neatly organizes his blogroll into topic sections on one page:
My Blogroll Evolution
My first blogrolls were pretty barebones. But over the years I‘ve refined my process into carefully curated sections:
Hopefully these examples have sparked some ideas! Let your creativity run wild.
Now let‘s go over some frequently asked questions about blogrolls in WordPress.
Blogroll FAQs
Here are answers to some of the most common blogroll questions I‘ve encountered:
Should you nofollow blogroll links?
Yes, it‘s recommended to add rel="nofollow" to all external blogroll links. This prevents passing SEO value to other sites.
How often should you update your blogroll?
Ideally, review your full blogroll every 1-2 months for dead links, new additions, etc. If that‘s too much, aim for 5-10 links per week.
Can you automate your blogroll?
Yes, plugins like Auto Blogger Roll can automatically display random blogroll links. But curation often works better.
Where should you display your blogroll?
The sidebar or footer are most common. But you can also use blogroll pages, shortcodes, modals, flyouts, widgets and more. Test different placements.
Do you need a plugin to add a blogroll?
Nope! You can easily create a blogroll menu using the built-in WordPress navigation menus without any plugin.
Conclusion and Next Steps
In this comprehensive guide, we covered everything you need to know to create an optimized blogroll in WordPress:
✔ What a blogroll is and key benefits
✔ Step-by-step setup using WordPress menus
✔ Display options like sidebars, footers, pages, popups
✔ Blogroll maintenance tips and best practices
✔ Creative examples and inspiration
✔ Answers to frequently asked questions
The most important tip is to carefully curate your links to provide maximum value for your readers.
Focus on quality over quantity, and refresh stale links regularly.
Used strategically, blogrolls can significantly grow your traffic, build community and boost engagement over time.
Now it‘s your turn…
What interesting or unique ways can you display your own blogroll?
Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments!
