How to add a link in WordPress

Inserting links and anchor text is one of the SEO techniques basics every SEOer needs to know. These simple techniques have a big effect on your website's SEO. Because they matter so much, in this article, MONA Media will show you how to insert links in WordPress – the most popular website platform today. Let's go through it in detail.

How to Insert Links in WordPress

To learn how to insert links into a web page or edit URLs in WordPress, follow these steps with MONA:

First, open the content editor Visual Editor by going to Post >>  Add New or by editing an existing page or post. To create a link, highlight the text you want to link, then click the Link icon as shown below.

Clicking the insert link button opens a popup window. Just enter the URL URL you want to link in the blank box. If you don't remember the address, type the post title instead. This box works like a Google search bar and finds posts among your published titles and content.

When you tick Open link in a new tab, users who click the Anchor Text link will have it open in a new tab automatically. Use this option when linking to an external website.

You can also search for a post in this field, or link to existing content if you don't remember the URL. Search for posts or scroll down the list to find the one you want. Click the post title to select it, then click the Add Link.

How to insert a link in a Widget

WordPress lets users add widgets to the sidebar or other widget areas. You can learn more about Widgets in the article: Everything You Need to Know About WordPress Widgets

Example: The Recent Posts widget automatically links to your latest posts. Use a text widget if you want to add text and insert links in your sidebar. A Text widget also lets you add HTML or plain text.

There are 2 ways to insert a link into a text Widget:

• Option 1: Add a link in HTML

Create a link in HTML. See the example below.

<a href=”https://mona.media”>Mona Media</a>

It will now show MONA Media linking to https://mona.media

Here, href is where you add the URL, and you need to add http:// before the domain name.

Between the anchor tags you can put any text you want to link. In our example it is Mona Media.

• Option 2: Use a plugin

If you don't want to write HTML, you can enable the visual editor for your text widgets. To do that, install and activate the Black Studio TinyMCE Widgetplugin. See our guide if you need help installing WordPress plugins.

Once activated, go to Appearance >> Widgets page. You will see a new Widget titled “visual Editor” below the existing widgets. Now just drag and drop it into the sidebar where you want custom text and your link. The widget expands to show a text area with a visual editor like your WordPress posts.

-> See some other WordPress plugins:

• How to Install and Use Yoast SEO
• 5 Font Plugins for WordPress

How to add a link in a menu

WordPress comes with a menu editor that lets you create and manage navigation menus on your site. Just go to Appearance >> Menus, and if you haven't created a menu, create one by entering a menu name. If menus already exist, you can add links, edit them or even delete earlier ones.

They are both “links”, so why does everyone chase backlinks while everyone fears external links? In fact, both matter for SEO strategy sustainable SEO. External links don't weaken your site; they help Google understand your content better. Watch this video where Huy shares how to use external links smartly.

How to add an external link icon in WordPress

Many websites such as Wikipedia add an icon to external links. The icon tells users that clicking the link takes them to a third-party website. Here is how you can add an icon to external links on your own site.

First, install and activate the Plugin External Link. Then go to Settings >> External Link. Tick the box next to “Mark outbound links an icon” and save your settings. You will now see the icon next to every external link on your website.

How to add a Title and the Nofollow attribute in WordPress

Many SEO experts recommend adding a nofollow tag to links pointing to external sites. Normally you won't want too many outbound links, so in this case you need nofollow.

For details on creating links in a Menu, see the example below:

Example:

• Add nofollow: <a href=”https://abc123.com” rel=”nofollow”>abc 123</a>
• Add title: <a href=”https://abc123.com” title=”WordPress user guide”>abc 123</a>

How to add a link to a button in WordPress

Buttons are often useful for getting users to act. You can do this in several ways: write HTML and CSS CSS for the buttons, or use a plugin. The problem with almost all plugins is that they use shortcodes to add buttons with links.

A simpler and more effective method is to just install and activate Forget About Buttons Shortcode plugin. Once activated, create a new post or edit an existing one. You'll see a new button in the editor menu for inserting a button into a page or post. Clicking it opens a popup where you can customize the button without knowing any code.

You may have noticed that Facebook and Twitter show a preview image for links you share. You can make your website do the same. WordPress can automatically embed links to other WordPress sites. This feature was added in version WordPress 4.4. Simply paste a link in the post editor, and if the URL is from a WordPress site, WordPress embeds it automatically. If you'd rather not use WordPress's own content cards, you can use a content card plugin.

How to add an Affiliate link in WordPress

Want to earn more from your website with links? Affiliate marketing gives websites and blogs a steady income.

All you need to do is add links that recommend the products and services you suggest. When customers visit through them and buy, you earn a commission.

A problem most beginners face is that every site or product they want to promote has a different URL. Tracking all those URLs seems impossible, especially when you recommend many products at once.

The most effective way to add and manage links Affiliate is to use a link management plugin. Just install and activate Thirsty Affiliates Plugin. Once activated, the plugin adds an Affiliate Link icon. Just click it to insert Affiliate links.

After that, you can easily insert Affiliate links into posts or pages by clicking the add link button.

That is our detailed guide to how to insert links in WordPress. We hope these ways of creating links on a website help you add links to your posts accurately, effectively and quickly. Good luck!