# Removing the blog sidebar: +26% clicks on content-upgrade links

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Landing page (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Page layout, Page clutter
- Test run by: [Devesh Khanal](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/devesh-khanal/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://growthrock.co/sidebar-and-end-of-post-email-opt-in-forms-dont-waste-your-time/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-growthrock-sidebar-removed-content-upgrade-clicks/

Removing the sidebar from a blog post led to 26% more clicks on its content-upgrade links. Devesh Khanal ran the test with Bryan Harris on a Videofruit post and wrote about it on the GrowthRock blog. It covered a single post, and no sample size or significance was shared.

## Result

**+26% clicks on content-upgrade links**

- Clicks on content-upgrade links: up 26% without the sidebar.
- This measures clicks on the upgrade links, not completed email sign-ups.
- Single post only. Visitors, duration and confidence were not shared.

## Control

A Videofruit blog post with a standard sidebar beside the article.

## Variant

The same post with the sidebar removed, leaving the article and its content-upgrade links.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- With fewer things competing for attention, readers are more likely to notice the offer inside the article.
- Sidebar forms convert poorly on their own, so dropping them costs little while helping the stronger offer.
- A single, clear next step can be easier to act on than several choices.

## Caveats

Tested on one post only, with no sample size, duration or significance shared. The metric is link clicks, not sign-ups, and the work dates from around 2015.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we remove the sidebar from our blog posts, then more readers will click our in-post content upgrades because there are fewer distractions competing with the offer.
- Primary metric: Content-upgrade opt-ins per post view
- Guardrail: Clicks to other pages from the post
- Guardrail: Pages per session
- Guardrail: Total email sign-ups from all forms
- Who should test it: SaaS and lead-gen blogs that rely on in-post offers to capture emails. If your sidebar drives product sign-ups or important navigation, measure those losses before removing it.

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Credit: Devesh Khanal ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-growthrock-sidebar-removed-content-upgrade-clicks/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.