Why The County Event Feed Link Is Super Powerful

Last updated: 04/12/2023

We introduced event feed links when county websites relaunched in late 2017, but they are worth mentioning again.

Look at these three event feed links from Sarasota, Polk, and Orange County. The beauty about event feed links is that: They get created when you post events on your County Google Calendar. Another advantage is sharing event feed links like this one (https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/events/?location=miamidade) anywhere! It already exists on your county home pages in at least two places.

We recently updated the event feeds to include start and end times following the date, and as of 2023, any event added to your county calendar is indexed to appear in search results.

Post Once Share Everywhere

I am big on the one post many shares concept; the below diagram shows everywhere your event appears when you post to your County Google Calendar. So, if you are interested in promoting County events posting to your Google Calendar is a good start. Additionally, someone can easily add county events to their personal Google calendars and set reminders. I have found this handy, especially for mobile devices.

Once the event is created on your County Google Calendar, it appears on your county homepage in at least four places, is added to a shareable event feed link, and shows on the UF/IFAS Extension Main Calendar. If you have shared your events feed somewhere, it appears in more places. In the future, and based on County listening sessions (Go here to see the Extension website enhancement list.), we want to make Extension Events more prominent.

Our goal is to make Extension events more prominent on county websites.

Your County Google Calendar

I shared this tip on how to share Eventbrite events to your County Google Calendars a while back. In the Event Description field on Google Calendar, you can share links from other Event systems and attach event-related resources such as PDF Agendas. Information in the event description appears in your event feed link. If you need help with getting access to your calendar, contact IFAS Web Services.

Here is what one Extension Agent stated about the Event Feed Link

All our staff list upcoming programs there so it’s very important for us and makes it easier for us to share events. As I mentioned the link in our bios on our Instagram and Facebook is also linked to that page.