Sidebar links are the links in a side column next to a page's main content. On a blog they are often popular or recent posts, categories and a signup box. On a documentation site the sidebar is the main way to move between pages. Because the same sidebar appears on many pages, it is one of the navigational link areas that decides which pages get the most internal links. It deserves the same thought as the main menu.
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Example
Swapping recent posts for evergreen pages
A fictional invoicing tool, Billquay, replaces its blog sidebar of five most recent posts with links to its three main guides and its pricing page. Those pages now get a link from every post, while the newest posts are still linked from the blog index.
Common mistakes
Collapsed links that are not in the HTML
Docs menus that fetch their links on click can hide pages from crawlers. Render the links as normal anchors.
Cluttering it with widgets
Tag clouds, archives by month and social feeds add links nobody uses. Keep the sidebar for a few useful paths.
Frequently Asked Questions
Google does not publish a weighting, but links in the main content carry more context. Treat sidebar links as navigation.
It is optional. Many sites drop it for a wider reading column and add related posts at the end instead.
Keep reading
- Navigational Links: Navigational links are the links in a site's menus, headers, sidebars and footers that help people move around and appear on many pages at once.
- Contextual Links: Contextual links are links placed within the body text of a page, surrounded by relevant words, rather than in menus, sidebars or footers.
- Internal Linking: Internal linking is linking from one page on your site to another. It helps search engines find and understand pages and guides readers to the next step.
- Sitewide Links: Sitewide links appear on every page of a site, usually in a footer, sidebar or header, such as "Built by" credits on client sites.
- Above the Fold: Above the fold is the part of a page visible before scrolling. It decides first impressions and whether a visitor sees the answer or a wall of ads.
- AI-Assisted Writing: AI-assisted writing uses language models to help research, outline, draft or edit content. Google judges the result on quality, not on how it was made.
- Anchor Text: Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. It tells readers and search engines what to expect on the page the link points to.
- Answer-First Writing: Answer-first writing puts a direct, complete answer to the reader's question at the start of a page or section, then adds context and detail.
