Making The Main Content Div Appear Before The Sidebar

In many WordPress themes, the sidebar loads before the main content area in the HTML source. This affects SEO and accessibility, since search engines and screen readers process content in source order. Moving the main content div before the sidebar in HTML while keeping the visual layout intact improves your site’s structure.

The Problem

A typical two-column layout with sidebar-first HTML looks like this:

<div class="container">
    <div class="sidebar">...sidebar content...</div>
    <div class="main-content">...main article...</div>
</div>

Search engines and screen readers encounter the sidebar first, which isn’t ideal. The main content should appear first in the HTML source.

CSS Flexbox Solution

Reorder the divs in HTML (main first, sidebar second) and use CSS to maintain the visual layout:

<!-- HTML: main content first -->
<div class="container">
    <div class="main-content">...main article...</div>
    <div class="sidebar">...sidebar content...</div>
</div>

/* CSS: sidebar appears visually on the left */
.container {
    display: flex;
}

.main-content {
    flex: 1;
    order: 2;  /* Appears second visually */
}

.sidebar {
    width: 300px;
    order: 1;  /* Appears first visually */
}

This approach gives you the best of both worlds: search-engine-friendly HTML with the sidebar appearing on the left in the visual layout.

CSS Grid Solution

CSS Grid offers an even cleaner approach:

.container {
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: 300px 1fr;
}

.main-content {
    grid-column: 2;  /* Second column visually */
}

.sidebar {
    grid-column: 1;  /* First column visually */
}

With Grid, you can easily swap the layout for different screen sizes:

@media (max-width: 768px) {
    .container {
        grid-template-columns: 1fr;
    }
    .main-content, .sidebar {
        grid-column: 1;
    }
}

WordPress Theme Modification

In WordPress, you’ll typically edit the theme’s template files:

For classic themes: Edit index.php, single.php, page.php in your theme directory. Swap the order of get_sidebar() and the main loop:

<!-- Before: sidebar first -->
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<div id="content">
    <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
        <?php the_content(); ?>
    <?php endwhile; endif; ?>
</div>

<!-- After: content first -->
<div id="content">
    <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
        <?php the_content(); ?>
    <?php endwhile; endif; ?>
</div>
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

Then add the CSS flex or grid rules to your theme’s style.css to position the sidebar visually on the left.

For block themes (FSE): Use the Site Editor to rearrange template blocks. The content block can be placed before the sidebar block in the editor, and CSS handles visual positioning.

SEO Benefits

Moving main content before the sidebar provides several advantages:

Search engine crawlers see your primary content first, giving it more weight
Screen readers announce the main content before navigation elements
Page speed improves slightly — the main content renders before sidebar widgets load
Mobile rendering — on slow connections, users see content before sidebar elements

Google’s page experience signals reward sites that prioritize main content visibility, making this a worthwhile optimization for content-focused sites.

Common Pitfalls

JavaScript dependencies: If JavaScript references elements by position (first child, last child), reordering HTML may break functionality. Use class-based selectors instead.

Float-based layouts: If your theme uses CSS floats, reordering HTML changes which element floats. Switch to flexbox or grid for reliable reordering.

Plugin compatibility: Some plugins inject content into specific positions. Test all plugins after reordering template elements to ensure nothing breaks.

Making the Main Content Div Appear Before the Sidebar