The more content you write, the more you find yourself repeating things you’ve already said. Bloggers are constantly linking back to published posts for reference and backstory for readers. It’s always been a time-consuming experience, hunting within the WordPress administration interface, or Googling around to find your own content.
WordPress bloggers rejoice! Gone is the painful and time consuming experience. No more the hunt for old posts. WordPress 3.1 now includes internal linking, making it easy to cite those references to posts of old.
Using AJAX and jQuery instant functionality, the Link function in the Visual editor now includes a search through your post content to find that internal link and quickly add it to your post.
Using the Visual Editor (internal linking is not currently available in the HTML editor):
- Type the link text.
- Highlight the word or phrase.
- Click the Links toolbar icon to activate the link options.
- Type in the search terms for the internal link to bring up a list of post titles from within your blog.
- Choose the post.
The result is a well formed HTML anchor tag. Hurray!
There are only two drawbacks to the new WordPress 3.1 internal linking feature. First, it is not available in the HTML editor, frustrating power users who shy away from the Visual editor to blog with more speed and control.
Second, it requires you remember the right keywords to bring the right post up in the list to choose from. Those prone to “senior moments” may suffer from side effects in using this new feature.
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[...] Learn how to use WordPress Internal Linking >> [...]
Yeah… I’m totally digging this new feature. I fear I may go internal linking crazy, though!
Already done that mate. I’ve gone internal linking loco.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lorelle on WordPress, Yael K. Miller, Amor, acs04, Dave Mason and others. Dave Mason said: RT @lorelleonwp: WordPress 3.1 new Internal Linking feature is my absolute, total, jump4joy new feature. http://is.gd/yCVVSz Have I emph … [...]
I was going crazy trying to figure out how to use this feature. “Why did they say they added easy internal linking if I can’t find it anywhere!!!” Didn’t realize it was for the visual editor only, so thanks a bunch!
I just love the new wordpress 3.1 internal linking features. Make my blogging work so much easier.
Great job Lorelle!! In reviewing all the new features there’s one item you may want to add in your article. If you’re using a plugin such as Tiny MCE Advanced….you have to turn off the “Advanced Link” feature within that plugin. Otherwise you will not get the new feature to pop up. Just a thought. Thanks again…Rick
I had the same issue as well and eventually figured out how to fix it myself.
Great alert Rick.
Internal linking eat your heart out. I’m a fan. Big fan.
Thanks for the tutorial Lorelle. Excellent writing as always.
I’m not sure I like this supposedly upgrade in the link feature. I loved the old way because I could embed a caption such as a definition to the word of the link. Is this function still available and where?
I’m not sure I understand. If you are using the HTML Editor, you can write your own links your own way, including the properly formed HTML with the title description of the link. The linking feature for WordPress in the Visual Editor also includes descriptive titles if you add them yourself. It has always been that way. Nothing has changed in that respect. Internal linking is just an addition that permits easy linking to posts on your blog.
[...] link to a past published post from among your inventory with a few clicks, is my personal favorite. How To Use Internal Linking in WordPress 3.1 will give you a full rundown on how to use [...]
[...] To learn more about this new feature check out Lorelle VanFossen’s article on WordCast. [...]
[...] found a nice explanation of how to use the new linking feature here. Basically when you are editing a page or a post, you can easily highlight a word or picture, click [...]
I’m not sure I’m that much of a fan of the new feature. I happily got along with the LinktoPost plugin, and that worked fine for me.
I’m struggling with figuring out how to post to anchor points within a specific post, as that feature seems to have disappeared somewhere. Can anyone help with this please?
I don’t understand your question. Did you disable the Plugin? Is the above technique not working for you? Did you follow it exactly? Are you using the Visual or HTML Editor? Internal Linking is not available for the HTML editor.
Wow, exactly what I was looking for because of the new Panda update… good job WordPress for providing interlinking like that!
[...] it up to date! Bloggers often want to link to previous articles or pages on their site, and the new Internal Linking feature helps find the existing content you want and build links to it automatically. Any site [...]
I too was unaware of this feature, and did all my internal linking by hand with html.
This looked great, and having tried it (in visual) I can report that it doesn’t work for me, despite typing in the full post title, the little timer revolves but nothing is returned. bummer.
I wonder if there is a plug-in conflict?
@Matt Cody you are a star, I uploaded Link to post, and it is super-duper this is going to save me a lot of time, thanks dude.
It’s easy when you know innit?
Keep in mind the links are static, not dynamic. So if you switch the permalink structure, or domain, your internal links are going to be wrong.
Looks like this works in the HTML mode as well. When I click the link button under html, it comes up without a problem.
I love this feature as I use a lot of internal links.
But…. I feel pretty stupid asking this, but I don’t understand why internal links show up in the “comment” list. I leave them unapproved because I don’t want them to show among the “Recent Comments” in the sidebar, but can I just trash them? Or is there some option to stop this from happening?