Creating an index for recipes or other content

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Creating an index for recipes or other content

Last updated March 06, 2026 18:23

Use a text-only or visual index to organize blog posts.

A recipe or content index is a great way to organize your blog posts so visitors can quickly browse your content.

Create a text-only index using the archive block, or create a visual index with a summary block. Whatever option you choose, the page will automatically refresh when you add new content.

Although this guide uses food and recipe blogs as an example, you can follow these steps to create any browsable archive of past content, no matter your site's subject.

Before you begin

• To follow this guide, you'll need a blog page on your site. If you don't have a blog yet, visit Blogging with Squarespace to get started.
• The index we're describing in this guide is different than the index page some version 7.0 templates include.

Organize your blog posts

Before creating the index, ensure all posts have the right labels and information so you can choose how your index will arrange later. You can organize the index by month, year, author, category, or tag.

For example, if you want to display links in the index in alphabetical order by category, edit blog posts and ensure they're all placed in the categories you want.

We recommend using categories for broad groups like Dinner, Snacks, and Dessertand tags for more general keywords like ingredients.

To learn more, visit Categories and tags.

Add the page with the index

Next, we'll add a new page that will contain the index:

1. Open the Pages panel, click +, then click + Add Blank.
2. Click Edit on the new page, then click Add Section.
3. Click Add a blank section.

Create a text index

To create a text-only index with a focus on links, we recommend the archive block:

1. On the new page, click Add Blockand select Archive. For more detailed steps, visit Adding content with blocks.
2. Click the archive block, then click the pencil icon to open the block editor.
3. Click your blog page.

4. Click the Displaytab and select Indexfrom the Layoutdrop-down menu. 5. To create a multi-column index, check Break Into Multiple Columnsto create a multi-column index. We recommend this option if your index will occupy a full page and/or if you have a lot of content to display.

6. Select a criteria from the Group Bydrop-down menu. The criteria displays as the headings for your index. Select Monthor Yearto organize your index chronologically or Tagor Categoryto organize it by subject matter. For more detailed steps, visit Archive blocks.

Create a visual index

To create a more visual index, use a summary block:

1. On the new page, click Add Block and select Summary.

Note:Summary blocks can display in Wall, Carousel, List, or Griddesigns. You can change the design at any time.

1. Click the summary block, then click the pencil icon to open the block editor.
2. Click Select a Page, then click your blog page.
3. Click the Layoutand Displaytabs to customize the summary block's design, the number of posts, and information displayed. Unlike the text-only archive block, summary blocks can display featured images and excerpts for each blog post. For more detailed steps, visit Summary blocks.

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Creating an index for recipes or other content