http://blogs.msdn.com/b/marcinon/archive/2010/12/08/optional-razor-sections-with-default-content.aspxJust remember that you need to use the @RenderSection() syntax (you need the @ character) so that the contents of the section is actually printed to the output. Without that character you will get an exception with the following message: The following sections have been defined but have not been rendered for the layout page "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml": "OptionalContent"