In case you are new to WordPress, you may be wondering on how to add links to your WordPress website. The links can either be outbound links to other websites or of articles on your own website. Most of the beginners to the world of WordPress site would find it a little difficult in understanding the concept of adding links to your content on WordPress blog. So, let us dive into the concept a little further.
How to add Links to WordPress Blog Posts?
Links are useful for sharing information on your site from other sites which have a large user base. In fact, you can also use the hyperlinks to connect the content that your visitors are currently reading with some other related article published on your site. The aforementioned method of adding a link to the article is referred to as External Links, while those link to the content within the site is called internal Links.
Adding a link to your website involves a simple process and will be dependent upon where you would want the link to appear on your site.
How to add a link in posts and pages
Well, you have already got used to the most user-friendly text editor on WordPress – the Visual Editor. Here is how you can add the link using the Visual Editor option on your website.
- Go to the Posts section on your site and click the option to add a new post.
- You can also open an existing article as well.
- Click on the Link option as indicated in the image here below.
- You should get a pop-up window that can be used to enter the relevant details.
- You can even use the option of Open Link in a new Tab option to launch the link in a new browser tab.
- You should be able to easily add a link to your existing webpage by choosing one of the pages and filling the text fields easily.
Use HTML tags to add your Links
If you are proficient enough in using the HTML tags, you can use the Text Editor option for adding links to external websites or even to the internal pages.
- Click where you want to add the link in the text of your content.
- Enter the following HTML code at the position
<a href=”example.com”>anchor text</a>
Another good option which can be used to add links to your WordPress document includes using plugins created for the purpose. There are several plugins that you can opt for. One of the prime examples we suggest is Black Studio TinyMCE Widget plugin.
Use Links to your Menu Items
What if you want to add a link to your sidebar menu? The sidebar will have links to your recent posts, comments, and categories. This procedure is referred to as Blogroll. This is the way you can use to create a link to other recommended web pages.
You will need a plugin for this purpose. The best option you can go with for this purpose is Link manager so download and install it. Here are the steps involved in using the plugin for creating links on your sidebar.
- Search for the plugin Link manager, download it and install it on your WordPress.
- Activate the plugin.
- It will add a new item on the left side menu on your WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the new item created on the dashboard labeled Links
- Click on Add New
- In the resultant box, type in the anchor text in the box labeled Name and the website address for the link in the Web Address
- When you are done entering all your details, click on Add Link
The next step would be to choose the position for this new link. To do this, you need to follow the steps mentioned below –
- Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on Appearance ->Widgets.
- You will now enter the Widgets page. Drag and drop the Links widgets from the list of Available Widgets to the left side. This will help you to add the concerned widget to your website.
- Choose the appropriate options and click on
Now the links will appear on your blog sidebar.
Adding an Icon to the External Links
You may have seen on some websites that there is an icon beside the external sites. This icon serves the purpose of letting the visitors know that on clicking this link they will be taken to a new page outside the website that they are currently on.
Though this icon may not have any high-end functionality with the links or how they work, it can serve as an option to improve the performance of your site. Introducing this function to your website involves the following steps –
- You will need to use a plugin for this functionality. One of the excellent options you can use for this purpose is the External Links
- Download, install and activate the plugin.
- Access the plugin through the WordPress dashboard by choosing the path – Settings » External Links
- Check the option for Mark outbound links with an icon
- Save your settings and exit.
That does it. Next time you visit your website, you will find that your external links will have an icon beside them to indicate that they will lead to external websites.
Any Other Valuable Information?
Well, yes. Adding links to your content on WordPress posts has a lot of advantages and thus can be used for a variety of purposes. One of the options that assume an important dimension is including a few attributes to control the SEO functionality of the links. SEO experts recommend using the nofollow links to your external links. This is stated to improve your SEO score to a considerable extent.
You can use a plugin for adding this attribute to your links. If you do not want to use the plugin, you can opt for an appropriate HTML tag for the purpose. You can add the attribute to the HTML tag you used for creating the link.
The typical format of the HTML link is
<a href=”example.com” rel=nofollow”>anchor text</a>
Conclusion
That was a detailed discussion on how to add links to your WordPress blog post and pages. Of course, there is more to the concept of adding links and additional functionality to them, but as a beginner, the above discussion should be sufficient for fulfilling almost all your needs. We assume we have been able to help you understand the concept to a good extent. In case you have any doubts, you can share them with us. And yes, do not forget to comment which method mentioned among the above methods did you find more useful and practical for your needs.
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