Step By Step / Direction Photos
Add a photo to any individual direction step, so readers can see what "knead until smooth" or "golden brown at the edges" actually looks like.
Available on Advanced and Enterprise plans.
Adding a step photo
- Open a recipe in Recipe Kit
- Scroll to the Directions section
- Click the image tile beside the step you want to illustrate, or drag a photo onto it
- Repeat for any other steps
- Click Save
Reload a blog post with that recipe and the photos appear beneath their step text.
You do not need a photo on every step. Use them where the visual actually helps and leave the rest alone.
What they are good for
- Technique. Folding, kneading, piping, anything hard to describe in words.
- Doneness. What "golden brown", "translucent" or "soft peaks" looks like in your kitchen.
- Assembly. Layer order for a lasagne, a trifle, a sandwich.
- Setup. An unusual pan, a specific attachment, an odd arrangement.
Image guidance
Step photos are displayed smaller than the main recipe image, so detail matters more than resolution:
- Fill the frame with the thing you are showing, not the whole kitchen
- Keep the lighting consistent across the set so the sequence looks deliberate
- Shoot them as you cook, not afterwards
- Compress before uploading, the same as the main image. Ten step photos at 3MB each is a slow page.
They are hidden in Cook Mode
Worth knowing: Cook Mode hides step photos along with the rest of the non-essential content, to keep the ingredients and directions readable at arm's length.
So step photos help someone reading the recipe before they start, not someone actively cooking it. Do not rely on a photo to carry a step the text does not explain. See Cook Mode.
Step photos and SEO
Step photos are included in the Google Recipe Schema Recipe Kit generates, attached to their individual step. This is one of the signals Google uses for step-by-step recipe results, so a complete set of step photos is worth more than a decorative one.
Importing step photos in bulk
The CSV import has a direction_images column that takes image URLs matched by position to your direction steps. See Bulk Recipe Import / Export for the formatting.
What's next
- Recipe Directions - Writing the steps themselves
- Recipe Images and Videos - Image formats and sizing
- Subscription Plans - Which plans include step photos