Recently one of our users asked us the question: how to fix the sidebar below content error in WordPress. This is not the first time, we have gotten this question, so we decided to write a post about it. In this article, we will show you how to fix the sidebar below content error in WordPress.
Why is my Sidebar dropping Below my Content?
The reason why your sidebar is dropping below your content is because there is a HTML or CSS error in your theme.
How can I prevent my sidebar from dropping below the content?
We have troubleshooted this issue for numerous users. 9 times out of 10, the reason is the same. There is an unclosed div element on the page. It could also be that there is an extra div element being closed on the page which makes it seem like that your sidebar is outside the wrap element. So what does this mean in English? Let’s troubleshoot it step by step.
Is this something that started happening recently? Is it only happening on a specific post or page? If your answer is YES, then the following fix is for you.
Look through anything that you changed recently. Did you add a plugin? Made any HTML related changes? Does your specific post or page content has <div> blocks in them? Make sure that they are properly closed. One of the best ways to find out the error is by using the W3 Validator.
Use this chart to understand what is going on:
If you are creating a custom theme, and this issue is happening with you, then there could be a few issues. One issue we have already revealed to you above. Few other issues could be:
Improper width ratio. If your container width is only 960px, then you have to keep things proportional. For example, content width 600px, and sidebar width 300px with 60px margin between them.
The other issue could be float property. You have to make sure that you add float: left; and float: right to the appropriate elements. If you do not do that, then it will not work.
We hope that this article has shown you how to fix the sidebar below content error in WordPress.
Thank you so much!
You just saved me a lot of time trying to resolve it.
As you said I had an extra div element closed
I am trying to put my current posts on the left and recent posts in a right sidebar and the sidebar is down at the bottom of the page, also it is too wide, and I do not understand what you were talking about since I am new to this. what is an easy fix?Or is there one?
I’m having the issue where my sidebar is showing up on the bottom of every page. I am not very savy with this so have not done anything fancy other than transfer my domain from google recently. I have been building the site in wordpress and did not have any issues until I changed the theme. I tried the instructions above but couldn’t find any of those things.
Hi Ayla,
Try switching temporarily to your previous theme or a default theme. If this resolves the issue, then the issue is with your theme. Try reaching out to theme developer to see if they can help you fix that.
Fixed my issue, thanks for posting!
thanks guys – this post just solved my problem. Much appreciated
I have the same problem right now and I can’t seem to find where to edit the HTML of the shop page im diaplayin products using the wcommerce plugin. When I inspect element on my browse, I can debug the error and correct it but in my actual root directory, I can’t find the page that holds the HTML of the shop page of woocommerce that I can edit. Pls help!
For the life of me I cannot fix my sidebar issue. I searched for open blocks. I removed one blog post that was wonky with HTML due to me copying content. I tried a different theme. I took off my widgets (and then tried to add one to see what would happen – the “follow blog” button” – still on the bottom). I tried the validator but don’t really understand what it is telling me. When I entered different blog post urls, I got the same error messages. I’m sorry I sound so stupid….I’ve had the blog a long time, but only recently started adding a lot of content, and I don’t really know what I’m doing yet. THe sidebar ended up from the right side, to the bottom of the blog, very recently (past couple of days). Can you help me?
Hey Maria,
Seems like you are using a WordPress.com blog. Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
I have same problem but unable to solve it. Only my home page have this problem. Post-type page and Page-type page are working well. My home page sidebar is going on top rather than going just next to my content. Can you please check what is going wrong in my website. My site is coasilat.com
Thank you. It is sorted the problem. it was and extra div element. when i get rid of it problem is fixed.
Lifesaver, thank you!
I had troubled whole day for this.
problem solution got only here.
Thank you..
Thank you very much sir…
Thank you for helping out
Hi, I’m a beginner. I don’t know ANYTHING about CSS or HTML code, I don’t edit my theme, I have no child theme. I only add plugins for whatever I need to do. I see to be having the issue with ALL MY BLOG POST PAGES. The sidebar is below the blog posts. I have no idea what is a div and how to fix it. Dear pros, what would be the best way for my to solve this sidebar issue?
I’m a beginner and not a coder either, but was able to solve this problem by using the W3 Validator link on this page. At the top of the validator, under Options, I checked all available then entered the web address of my blog and ran the validator. Below a numbered list of errors was a very detailed (and intimidating, but hang in there) display of the errors as they’re located within the text of my blog. I focused on the mentioned in this article. Scrolling through the detailed report, I found one error that was highlighted in red. Since my text was displayed, I could see that it was in one of my blog posts just after an internet link I’d inserted. I went to that blog post on the WordPress dashboard, clicked “edit” and deleted the link. (Holding down “delete” to be sure I got any invisible anything that might be there and backspacing a couple of letters for the same reason. I then saved the blog post. My webpage was fixed! I then re-edited the blog post to add back in the link and all remained fine. Problem solved.
Thank you I was able to immediately find and fix the problem based on your instructions. I found I placed and extra in my single.php file. Your a live saver, thank you so much!
I dont know what wrong I did, pls help me. I was editing text and I accidentally pressed a combination of keys which changed the way it looked. few buttons like full screen is missing now. And the publishing button is moved to left side. And the pic that I uploaded with the post moved upside my content and it is very big now. I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know what is the problem. I am not computer friendly. I usually write posts. Pls help me. The address of my page is wordpress.com
Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog. You need to contact WordPress.com support.
First time taking over updating of our site…tried to update the static home page and somehow my sidebar went to the bottom. I can’t see any or tags….help! I don’t want to tell the person i took over from i already screwed up if i can figure out what i did!
Can somebody please help me i have the same problem…
this is my header.php
Perfect! Thanks! I knew the minute you said div exactly whose post in my community blog had to be edited!
This is happening to me right now every time I try out a new theme. Only one widget stays on the sidebar and the rest goes to the bottom of the content. But when I go back to my current theme, everything looks okay. I still can’t figure it out.
Ah! You just saved me a ton of time and frustration! Thank you
Thanks a lot for this! Was really helpful
Thank you for this post. I am trying to fix this problem on my website right now. I tried everything mentioned in this post, but I still am having issues. I know a little about websites, but I am at a total loss as to why my top navigation bar is going onto 2 lines and why my sidebar is being pushed to the bottom. My website is not live yet, but here is the website
Thank you for any help!!
Similar problem with my bespoke blog inside my website; side bar slips under the footer if there isn’t enough content to push it down.
I found that removing (or safer, commenting out) the following sorted the problem:
I don’t know what this empty div is for & so far it hasn’t adversely affected the blog. Another more obvious reason is due to divs without closing tags – it’s a bit harder to keep track of all your open/closed div tags in WP as the footer & header are removed unlike a standard HTML site.
Er, that is commenting out the empty “delimiter” div at the bottom of various WP pages – it disappeared from my original comment!
can you look at my website and help me? http://www.americasfreedomfighters.com/ i inserted google adsense and now my sidebar is pushed to the bottom and i have a story going up on the sidebar! thank you so much
THANK YOU! It was the content width that did it for me
I have this problem and I can’t solve it (I’ve been trying for several days)
Here is my site:
Please, I really need help. Thanks!!!! =)
You probably need to add clear before ending your .hfeed div like this:
I have this problem, and I don’t even know where to start, as I haven’t done any editing today. Any suggestions? Here is my site
http://clarkscondensed.com/
Your site looks fine in Chrome.
Awesome tip! Its gonna be really helpful, and Kathy’s comment is typically what happens to me.
Since most themes have the proper CSS, I find this is almost always a problem of improperly closed HTML. Usually it occurs on a specific page, because the user has tried to add her own HTML in the post editor and things went wonky from there. Simple error, but can take a long time to debug.