How to Use the Listing Block in UniLink (Create a Directory or Catalog on Your Page)

A step-by-step guide to adding the Listing block to your UniLink page so you can build a searchable, filterable directory of items — job board, resource hub, vendor catalog, or anything in between.

A Linktree-style list of seven links is fine for routing traffic. But some pages need to do more than route — they need to organize, surface, and make things discoverable. A freelancer community that needs a "find a designer in your city" page cannot do that with a link list. A niche educator building a curated resource library cannot do it either. The Listing block is built for exactly this use case: it gives you a full directory engine, including search, category filters, and optional visitor submissions, without requiring a separate website or database tool. Everything lives on your UniLink page, updates in real time from your dashboard, and works on mobile out of the box.

What the Listing block does

The Listing block renders a grid or list of item cards on your page. Each card is a structured entry: a title, a category tag, a short description, a cover image, optional supplementary fields (price, location, tags), and a CTA button that can link to an external URL, an email address, or a phone number. Visitors see the full set of entries by default, then narrow results using the category filter dropdown, the keyword search bar, or the sort order (alphabetical, newest, or price) — all without the page reloading. The controls sit above the card grid and stay visible as visitors scroll.

Beyond displaying your own curated entries, the block can accept submissions from visitors. When you enable the submission form, a button appears on your live page inviting visitors to add their own listing. They fill in a form with the fields you have configured, submit it, and — depending on your moderation setting — the entry either goes live immediately or enters a review queue visible in your dashboard. This turns a one-way directory you maintain alone into a community-contributed catalog where your audience builds the content.

The block does not support nested categories, paid listing upgrades, or full-page item detail views with separate URLs. Each item card is self-contained: the description, image, and CTA button are the extent of what a visitor sees before clicking through. If you need items with long rich-text descriptions, image galleries, or separate landing pages per entry, a standalone website or a tool like Notion public pages is a better fit. The Listing block is designed for scannable, action-oriented directories where visitors browse, filter, and click — not read deeply.

Before you start

1. Plan your categories: Decide on two to six categories before adding any entries. Categories are hard to reorganize once items are assigned to them — changing a category name later updates the label everywhere, but merging two categories requires re-tagging every affected item manually. Aim for categories that are mutually exclusive and roughly balanced in the number of entries they will hold.
2. Decide which optional fields your entries actually need: The Listing block lets you toggle on or off: image, price, location, and tags. Before you open the editor, decide which of these fields apply to your use case. A job board needs location and a CTA labeled "Apply." A resource library needs tags and no price. A vendor directory needs price and location. Turn off every field your entries will not actually fill — empty fields on most cards look worse than no field at all.
3. Prepare your entry content: Write your item titles, descriptions (two to four sentences each), and CTA URLs before opening the editor. Adding items is faster when you are copying from a prepared list rather than composing in the block editor's small text fields. For item images, 800×600px JPEG at under 200KB each gives good quality without slowing the card grid.
4. Decide on moderation if using submissions: If you plan to enable the visitor submission form, decide before launch whether entries should auto-approve or require manual review. The default is auto-approve. Change it to manual review in the block settings before publishing — you can always approve submissions in bulk, but you cannot un-publish a wave of spam entries that hit before you noticed the setting.

How to add the Listing block to your page

1. Open your page in the Dashboard: Log in to UniLink, go to My Pages, and click Edit on the page where you want the directory to appear.
2. Add a new block: Click + Add Block in the editor. In the block picker, scroll to the Content or Community section and select Listing.
3. Configure the block-level settings: In the settings panel, set the block title (the heading visitors see above the directory — e.g., "Freelance Designer Directory" or "Curated Marketing Resources"), choose your default layout (grid or list), and set the number of items per page. Enable or disable the search bar and the category filter dropdown based on whether your directory is large enough to need them.
4. Toggle the fields you need: Under Item fields, turn on the fields that apply to your directory type: image, price, location, tags. Turn off any field you will not reliably fill for every entry — visible but empty fields signal an unfinished page to visitors.
5. Add your first item: Click Add Item to open the item editor. Fill in the title, select or create a category, write the description, upload the item image, fill in any optional fields you enabled, enter the CTA button label (e.g., "Apply," "Visit," "Learn More," "Contact"), and add the CTA destination URL or contact info.
6. Add all remaining items: Repeat the previous step for every entry in your directory. Add at least five items before publishing — a directory with two or three cards is not useful enough to justify the search and filter UI that appears above them.
7. Configure sorting: Set the default sort order visitors see: newest (the default — shows most recently added first), alphabetical (A–Z by title, good for resource libraries), or price (low-to-high, good for vendor directories with pricing).
8. Configure the submission form (optional): If you want visitors to add their own entries, toggle on Allow submissions. Set moderation to Manual review, customize the submission form fields to match what you are collecting, and write a short submission confirmation message visitors see after they submit. Save these settings before publishing.
9. Save and publish: Click Save, then Publish. Open your live page in a separate browser tab, test the search bar and category filters with real queries to confirm they return sensible results, and if submissions are enabled, submit a test entry and verify it appears in your Dashboard review queue.

Key settings explained

How to design a listing directory that visitors actually use

The most common failure mode for Listing block directories is building one that looks complete on day one but stalls because there is no reason for visitors to return. A static list of ten resources you curated once gets bookmarked, maybe, and then forgotten. The directories that build return traffic are ones that update regularly — either because you add new entries on a cadence or because visitor submissions keep the "Newest" sort populated with fresh content. Before you launch, decide which of these patterns fits your situation and build toward it from day one rather than treating the directory as a one-time project.

Item descriptions are where most Listing block directories lose visitors. A description that reads "A great resource for marketers" tells a visitor nothing about whether this specific entry is relevant to them. A description that reads "A free 47-page PDF guide covering email subject line formulas, A/B testing frameworks, and deliverability fixes — most useful for marketers managing lists over 5,000 subscribers" tells them everything they need to decide in three seconds. Write descriptions for the visitor who is scanning the directory quickly and needs to know instantly whether to click. Every description should answer: what is this, who is it for, and what specifically will they get from it.

Category naming matters more than most directory builders realize. Vague category names like "General," "Other," and "Misc" are placeholders that tell visitors nothing. When categories share roughly the same meaning from the visitor's perspective — "Tools" and "Apps" in a software directory, or "Articles" and "Guides" in a content library — merge them into one. The right number of categories for most directories is between three and six. More than six categories on a directory with fewer than 50 items means most categories have two or three entries, which makes filtering feel pointless. Fewer than three means the filter adds no useful segmentation.

If you are running a community directory where people list their own services or profiles, the quality of your first ten entries sets the standard for every submission that follows. Write those first entries yourself, and write them well — detailed descriptions, good images, well-chosen tags. When the first community members visit the submission form and see the existing entries, they will model their own submissions on what they see. A directory seeded with low-effort placeholder entries gets low-effort submissions. A directory seeded with thorough, well-formatted entries tends to attract submissions of comparable quality.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions