Event Searches

Overview

Event Searches allow your users to browse through all of your current and upcoming Events. There are different configuration options and you can create as many of these as you like.

Event Searches are displayed with the following features:

• a list of Events with an image*
• a keyword search tool
• a map with markers for the Event Locations
• a calendar for browsing Events by date
• Event Categories as search filter options

*Please note: if you do not upload an image for a particular Event, the image from that Event's Location will be displayed. Should the Location not have an uploaded image, no image will be displayed

For general information on creating Categories for your Tags in Metro Publisher, please visit the following support document: Tag Categories.

For instructions on how to link to an Event Search Page, please read the following guide: Linking to Event Searches

 

Event Searches

For full screen viewing, click the expand icon in the video player.

 

Title and Basic Information

1. Title: This is the name of the Event as well as the title that will appear at the top of the Event Page.
   
   
2. Description: This is a short description (250 characters or 1-2 sentences max) that appears on the top of the location search page. This should be short and to the point.
   
   
3. URL: By default, the URL will be the same as the Event Search title but in all lower case with dashes separating the words. It is advisable to leave the auto-generated URLs as is, but they may be changed here if necessary.
   
   All location searches follow the same rule for URLs:
   yourdomainname.com/search/event/event-search-title
   
   
4. Relative URL: The path you would use to link to your search. For example, if you wanted to add a navigation item to link directly to the Event Search, you would use the Relative URL to do that.
   
   
5. Bottom Text: Allows you to add some additional text below the search results. This is useful if you want to add disclaimer text for your Events, for example.
   
   

Meta Data

1. Meta Title: This text appears in the browser window as the page title. If this field is left blank, the Event Search title will take its place by default.
   
   
2. Meta Description: This is the description that will appear in search results with the page title.
   
   
3. Meta Keywords: These are the keywords that search engines look for. NOTE: Once important, meta keywords have become of negligible value today.
   
   

Section

1. Section: Setting the section or subsection does two things. First, your Event Search will inherit ads from the specified section or subsection. Second, the navigation will show that Event Search to be inside the assigned section or subsection.
   
   

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Map Settings & Quicklinks

Event Searches have a default map which you must set here as the starting point for any search. The zoom level and position of the map are important because they determine which Events will appear. For example, if you would like to have a search of all upcoming concerts in San Francisco, you must set the map so that the entire city of San Francisco appears.

 

1. Use Map: Checkbox to add a large map for map-based browsing option. It appears as a link to another search page where your users can browse for Events on this map. You must manually set the zoom level of the map to include the area that you want to show Events in.
   
   
2. Lock Map: Option to lock or unlock the map to edit the zoom position and level. This map zoom level is the starting point when the page loads. The checkbox allows you to either show all Events, even those that are outside of the current zoom level, or to limit the results to only the areas seen on the map.
   
   
3. Quicklinks: Quicklinks are displayed as a dropdown menu option for your readers to jump to other map zones. For example, you could create Quicklinks to specific neighborhoods within your town. If you are not familiar with Quicklinks, please read the document: Creating Quicklinks and Mapzones.
   
   

   NOTE: For Quicklinks to appear on Location and/or Event Searches you MUST check the 'Limit Search to Map' box at the bottom of your Search editing page in Admin.

   To find out more about using Quick Links and Map Zones on Location and/or Event Searches, please read the following document: How Map Zones and Quicklinks Relate to Location/Event Searches.

4. Results per search page: Select how many results should appear on each page.

 

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Search Categories

Without Categories, an Event Search is merely a list of all the events you have published in the system. Categories are a critical feature that allow you to create specific Event Searches for specific areas.

Categories are therefore groupings of Tags which you create yourself, that allow your readers to find the specific Locations that interest them, such as restaurants offering a specific type of cuisine.

Categories are managed within the Tags section of your work site. To find out how those work, go to Editor > Tags > Categories and watch the video there, or visit the Tags & Topics Pages document on this Support site.

For the purpose of filtering, it is important to know that the relationship between Tags of two different Categories is an AND relationship.

This means that you would need to place the Tags 'Brunch' and 'Live Music' in two separate categories for readers to find an Event that offers both brunch AND a live band playing.

Between two Tags of the same Category there is an OR / OR ALSO relationship.

Say you have a Category called Event Type, for example, that includes the Tags 'Concert', 'Film', 'Art Exhibition', 'Guided Tour' etc.

This would mean that your readers could select both 'Film' and 'Concert' from the 'Event Type' Category you created to find all Events that are either a concert, or a film, or both.

Please note that when you merge Tags that were assigned to different Categories into one Tag, all those Categories are maintained after the merge.

 

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