{"id":109234,"date":"2026-06-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crazyegg.com\/blog\/?p=109234"},"modified":"2026-06-23T13:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:35:30","slug":"website-sidebar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crazyegg.com\/blog\/website-sidebar\/","title":{"rendered":"Website Sidebars: What to Put in One, When to Skip It & How to Test It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A website sidebar includes navigation elements, like menus or search boxes, supporting content, like author bio or similar posts, and conversion elements, like a newsletter signup form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On content-heavy blogs and docs, and stores with large catalogs, sidebars improve navigation and help users find relevant information. On pages with a single job, like landing pages, and on mobile devices, they distract and obscure the view, so skip them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When designing your website sidebar, use heatmaps<\/a> and session recordings to see how users engage with it and run A\/B tests to find the best converting and engaging versions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is a Website Sidebar?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A website sidebar is a vertical column to the left or right of the main content area. It holds secondary material, for instance, navigation menus, search boxes, CTAs, social proof, or widgets, rather than the page’s primary content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the Animalz blog sidebar includes the table of contents, a widget with social-sharing icons, and a newsletter sign-up form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Blog<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A good sidebar helps visitors find what they need<\/em>, for example, products within the same category, or directs them to things you want<\/em> them to find, like related articles, signup forms, or ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s the difference between a website sidebar and a sidepanel?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A sidebar is a fixed part of a page layout, while a side panel is an interface panel in an app or tool that you can toggle open or closed, like the one in Kubio, which I used to build my WordPress website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wix<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, sidebars and side panels aren’t the same, even though people (and competing articles) use the terms interchangeably.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What types of sidebar are there? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Websites use four main sidebar types:<\/p>\n\n\n\n