Right Sidebar Content Is Rarely Seen
On one website in an eye-tracking study, the right-hand sidebar received 1 of 132 fixations in the content area, or 0.8%. That is about 33 times less attention than the sidebar’s share of the screen would predict (Nielsen Norman Group, 2018). This is a measurement from a single site, but it fits a consistent pattern in the research.
What the research observed
Two effects combine against the right column. First, the right rail is a traditional place for ads, and users have learned to skip content in ad positions without looking closely (Nielsen Norman Group, 2018). Second, attention on web pages leans heavily left, with about 80% of fixations on the left half of the page (Nielsen Norman Group, 2017).
A sidebar sits in the zone that gets less attention to begin with, in a position that users associate with material they can ignore.
What it means for a business website
Many business sites, especially blogs and service pages built on standard themes, use the sidebar for things the owner considers important: a newsletter signup, a “Request a quote” box, a phone number, or a current offer. Placing these in the sidebar keeps the main column clean, but it puts the content where visitors are least likely to look.
If a sidebar item is how you get leads, it is worth checking whether it is doing that job.
What to do
- Move calls to action, contact details, and offers from the sidebar into the main column, such as after the opening section and at the end of the page.
- Reserve the sidebar, if you keep one, for secondary items like related articles or category lists.
- If you are unsure, place the item in the main column for a period and compare the results with the sidebar version.
Sources
- Pernice. Banner Blindness Revisited: Users Dodge Ads on Mobile and Desktop. Nielsen Norman Group, 2018.
- Fessenden. Horizontal Attention Leans Left. Nielsen Norman Group, 2017.