What's the best way to embed a public events calendar on a website?

A public events calendar on your website tells visitors what's coming up and why they should come back. Yet many events calendars on websites are rarely used: they're hard to read on a phone, they show times in the wrong time zone, or they're out of date because someone forgot to update them. And even a perfect calendar has a limitation: visitors have to remember to return to your website to check it. From what we see at CalendarLink, the events calendars that work best don't just show events, they help visitors save them.

In short, the best way to embed a public events calendar on a website is to manage your events in one place, show your upcoming events on your own page with an embedded widget or button for each event, and add a clear option to subscribe to the full calendar. That way, visitors can browse your events on your website and also get them in their own Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, including every new event you add. Below, we compare the options and show how to set this up with CalendarLink.

The best way to embed a public events calendar on your website

A public events calendar that people actually use meets five requirements. Use them as a checklist, whichever tool you choose.

1. One source of truth. You add or change an event in one place, and your website follows.
2. Readable on every device. Most visitors check events on their phone, so a list often works better than a small month grid.
3. Times in the visitor's time zone. Especially for online events with an international audience.
4. Easy to save. Every event can be added to the visitor's own calendar in one or two clicks.
5. Easy to follow. Visitors can subscribe to the full events calendar, so new events reach them without another visit.

Most embed options handle the first three well. The difference is in the last two, because those decide whether your events end up in your visitors' calendars or only on your website.

Your options for embedding an events calendar

There are three common ways to put an events calendar on your website. Each has its strengths, depending on what you want visitors to do.

Google Calendar embed. Google Calendar lets you make a calendar public and embed it with an iframe. It's quick to set up and shows a familiar month or agenda view. The downside is that the design options are limited and the calendar is built around Google users, which makes saving or subscribing less convenient for visitors who use Apple Calendar or Outlook.

Calendar plugin or widget tool. Many website builders and content management systems offer plugins or widget tools for an events calendar, often with a full month view and filters. They can work well, but they add another tool to maintain, and the options for adding events to a visitor's own calendar vary per plugin. If your site runs on WordPress, our guide on embedding add to calendar links in a WordPress site shows how calendar links fit into that setup.

CalendarLink event widgets and a collection page. With CalendarLink, you manage your events in a collection and place each upcoming event on your own page as an embedded widget or button. The full calendar, with a list view, a month view and a subscribe button, lives on a branded collection page that you link to from your website. Visitors can add each event to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Yahoo or an iCal file, see all times in their own time zone, and subscribe to all events at once. This option puts the focus on what happens after a visitor finds an event: saving it and staying up to date.

How to embed your events calendar with CalendarLink

Here is how to set up a public events calendar with CalendarLink, from the first event to the subscribe button on your website.

Step 1: Create a collection for your public events

A collection groups your events and gives them one public page. Create a new collection, add a name and a short description, and check the settings. For a public events calendar, we recommend keeping these options on: show name and description, allow opening individual events, show the add to calendar button, which lets visitors subscribe to all events at once, and show the share button.

If you want to know who follows your calendar, you can also turn on "Require registration". Visitors then enter their name and email address before they subscribe. For a broader look at planning and promoting a public calendar, read our guide on how to create a public calendar for your community.

Step 2: Add your events

Add each event with a title, date, time, time zone, location and description. For events that repeat on a fixed schedule, such as weekly classes or monthly meetups, create a recurring event instead of adding every date by hand. Our page on managing recurring events explains how this works.

When your events already live in a spreadsheet, a CRM or another app, you can create them in bulk through Zapier, Make or n8n. Every new row or record then becomes an event in your collection, so your events calendar stays up to date without double work.

Step 3: Match the pages to your brand

Visitors move between your website and your event pages, so it helps when they look the same. You can upload your own logo and set the background, colors, font and footer of your event and collection pages. On the Startup and Business plans, you can also remove the CalendarLink branding. Our article on branding calendar event pages with your own colors and logo walks you through the design options.

Step 4: Embed your upcoming events on your website

Now place your events on your events page. In the sharing options of each event, choose the Website filter and pick the widget that suits your page:

• Iframe widget: shows the full event page inside your page, including the date, time, location, description and add to calendar or RSVP button.
• Single button or dropdown button: a compact button that fits next to your own event description.
• Buttons: a row of buttons, one per calendar, so every option is visible at once.

Copy the HTML and paste it into your page. A common layout is a short list of upcoming events, written as normal text on your page, with a button or widget under each event. Because this text is part of your own page, search engines and visitors can read it directly. For more layout ideas, see our guide on how to place an add to calendar on your website.

Step 5: Add a subscribe option for your full events calendar

Below or above your list of events, add a clear button such as "View the full calendar and subscribe", linked to your collection page. On that page, visitors can switch between a list and a month view, see all times in their own time zone, open each event, and subscribe to the full collection in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Office 365, Outlook or iCal.

Subscribing is what turns your events calendar into a channel of its own. New and changed events appear in subscribers' calendars automatically, usually within 12 hours and at most within 24 hours. The subscribe option also works before you have any upcoming events, so people can sign up early. Learn more about how this works on our subscription calendars page.

Step 6: Test on desktop and mobile

Before you publish the page, open it on a laptop and on a phone. Check that the widgets load, that the buttons are easy to tap, and that the collection page opens correctly from your website. Add a test event to your own calendar and subscribe to the collection once, so you see exactly what your visitors will see.

Best practices for a public events calendar on your website

A few habits keep your events calendar useful long after you've embedded it:

• Keep one source of truth. Add and change events only in CalendarLink, so your website, your collection page and your subscribers always see the same information.
• Use separate collections for different audiences. Every event belongs to one collection, so a separate collection per audience or category, such as members-only events and public events, keeps each calendar relevant for its subscribers.
• Start a new collection when your audience changes. You can't end someone's subscription yourself, so for seasons or cohorts, create a new collection and share it with the current group.
• Remove past events from your page. Past events stay available on their own page, but your website list should focus on what's coming up.
• Write event titles that work outside your website. In a subscriber's calendar, the title appears without your page around it, so "Open evening: spring courses" works better than "Open evening".

Who is this approach for?

An embedded events calendar that visitors can also subscribe to is useful for every organization with a regular flow of public events. We see it work well for:

• Community organizations and associations sharing meetups, member events and volunteer days.
• Sports clubs and leagues publishing match schedules and training sessions.
• Schools, universities and training providers showing open days, courses and info sessions.
• Venues, libraries and cultural organizations promoting performances, exhibitions and workshops.
• Companies and SaaS teams listing webinars, product demos and customer events.

Why choose CalendarLink for your public events calendar?

CalendarLink turns your events calendar into something visitors can take with them. Every event can be embedded on your website as a widget or button, and every visitor can add it to the calendar they use. Your collection page shows all events in a list or month view, in the visitor's own time zone and browser language, and lets people subscribe to the full calendar with one click.

Because you manage all events in one place, your website and your subscribers' calendars stay up to date without extra work. And with Zapier, Make and n8n, you can fill your events calendar automatically from the tools you already use.

Frequently asked questions about embedding a public events calendar

Can I embed a full CalendarLink events calendar on my website?

You can embed each event on your website as an iframe widget or button. The full events calendar, with a month view and the option to follow all events, is shown on your collection page, which you link to from your website.

Can I embed Google Calendar on my website?

Yes. Google Calendar lets you make a calendar public and embed it with an iframe. It's a quick option for showing a month view, but saving and subscribing are mainly convenient for visitors who use Google Calendar themselves.

How do visitors add all my events to their calendar at once?

They subscribe to your collection. On the collection page, they choose their calendar and confirm. After that, every new or changed event appears in their calendar automatically.

Does an embedded events calendar update automatically?

Embedded widgets and your collection page always show the current details of your events. Subscribers receive new and changed events in their calendar within 24 hours. People who added a single event to their calendar keep the version they saved.

Is an embedded calendar good for SEO?

Content inside an iframe is generally attributed to the page it comes from, not to your own page. If you want your events to help your website in search, write a short description of each event as normal text on your page and use the widget for the add to calendar or RSVP button.

Our Conclusion

An events calendar on your website works best when it combines what visitors see on your page with what they can take with them. Manage your events in one collection, embed your upcoming events with a widget or button, and link to a collection page where visitors can view the full calendar and subscribe. That way, your events don't just live on your website, but also in the calendars of the people you want to reach.

Ready to put your events calendar to work? Start by creating your community calendar and add your first events today. The free plan needs no credit card.