Embeddable Planting-Date Widget (#104 / G13)

A free zip→planting-dates widget that gardening blogs and newsletters embed in their posts. It turns GBZ’s core tool into a link-acquisition engine: every embed carries a credit backlink to gardeningbyzone.com.

How it works

• /embed/ (embed/index.html, layout: none) — the standalone widget. No site nav/footer so it sits cleanly in a third-party <iframe>. noindex, follow + sitemap: false (it’s a utility, not a content page).
• assets/js/embed.js — ZIP → 3-digit prefix → zones.json (zone + last frost) → vegetables.json week offsets → start-indoors/transplant/direct-sow dates. Same date math as zone-page.js. Shows 8 teaser crops + a click-through to the full /zones/<zone>/ calendar (UTM-tagged).
• /embed-this/ (embed-this/index.html) — the public “get the code” page: live preview, copy-paste snippet, attribution terms, FAQ. Linked from the footer.

The SEO mechanic — read before changing the embed code

Links inside an iframe do NOT count as backlinks to the embedding site — Google attributes iframe content to the iframe’s domain (us), not the host page. So the link that earns equity is the <a href="https://gardeningbyzone.com/"> in the embed snippet, outside the iframe, which lands in the blogger’s own HTML. Keep that link in the snippet, clean (no UTM, no nofollow), or the widget stops being a link engine. The in-iframe “by GardeningByZone” credit is branding/traffic only (UTM-tagged) — not the backlink.

Promotion plan

1. On-site: /embed-this/ is the canonical home; footer-linked sitewide so it’s discoverable. Consider a one-line CTA on /about/ and high-traffic zone pages (“Run a gardening site? Embed this calendar →”).
2. Outreach (the link acquisition): HARO / featured.com responses on planting-calendar / “when to plant” queries (redirect the MowGuide 8.4 outreach effort here per the audit); direct pitches to garden bloggers and regional gardening newsletters; relevant subreddits / Facebook groups. The pitch is “free useful tool for your readers,” not “please link to us.”
3. Compounding: every embed = one editorial backlink; adoption snowballs.

Measuring

• Adoption / domains: referrer of /embed/ requests + clicks on the in-widget UTM links (utm_source=embed).
• Backlinks earned: Ahrefs/GSC referring-domains over time (the real KPI).

Updating

• Crops shown: TEASER in embed.js. Brand colors: the :root vars in embed/index.html. Data is shared with the main site (assets/data/*.json), so the widget stays in sync automatically.