How to Create a Permanent Google Hangouts Meet Link/URL for Video Calls

Google Hangouts Meet, part of G Suite, is super convenient for video calls because there is nothing to install and it does not require your guests to have an account. They just click a link and chat in their browser. It’s about as easy as video calling gets.

But Hangouts Meet does not allow you to create permanent links. This can be frustrating if you use a meeting scheduler and want to include a video call link with every meeting. There are two possible solutions: (1) adding video calls to all events created on your calendar, or (2) creating a permanent meeting link you can use to add links to meetings created with your scheduler.

Option 1: Add Video Calls to All Events

One option is to change the default setting for Google Calendar so that it adds a video call to every event. Here’s how:

1. Go to your G Suite admin console.
2. Navigate to Apps / G Suite / Settings for Calendar.
3. Under Sharing settings, check the box next to Automatically add video calls to events created by a user.
4. Click Save.

Now every time an event with a guest is added to your calendar, the event will automatically get a Google Hangouts Meet link.

This works great unless you don’t actually want to use video calls for every event. You probably don’t need to confuse someone you are meeting in person, for example.

Should Jordan meet me at the coffee shop or join by phone?

It creates another problem for me because I use Skype for recording podcast interviews, and for Stephanie because she uses Zoom to host Lawyerist Lab masterminds. But when we had this setting turned on by default our guests kept going to the Google Hangouts Meet link instead of meeting us in Skype or Zoom.

Unfortunately there is no way to apply this default setting only to certain types of events or certain G Suite users. Fortunately, there’s a pretty easy workaround.

Option 2: Permanent Google Hangouts Meet Links

Let’s say you use a meeting scheduler and you want to automatically add a Hangouts Meet link for all client intake meetings, but not for all the other events on your calendar. The ideal solution would be check a box in your scheduler so that a unique link is created for each appointment. But if your scheduler doesn’t do that, another solution is to create a permanent link you can include in your scheduler so it is added to every appointment. Here’s how to do that.

1. In Google Calendar, create a new, all-day event.
2. Set the event to repeat daily.
3. Click the Add conferencing drop-down menu, then select Hangouts Meet.
4. Make sure the event is Free and Private.
5. Remove any notifications.
6. Click the Save button.

Here is an example:

To get the meeting link, click on Manage details before saving or click the event on your calendar, then copy the meet.google.com URL for the meeting.

Once you have the link, you can paste it into your scheduler (or give it to the person who schedules your meetings). In my scheduler, HubSpot Meetings, I use the Location field.

Then when the event is created on my calendar, it has a clickable link to the video call.

Since you have set the event to repeat daily forever, the meeting link will stay alive for as long as the event repeats. So don’t delete the event! If you delete the event, the Hangouts Meet link will expire.

If you don’t want to clutter up your main calendar with meeting links, you can create a separate calendar for them.

This way you can keep all your video call links in one place. And because it is a separate calendar, you can turn it off in your calendar list. That way your Hangouts Meet links won’t clutter up your main calendar view.

This solution to creating permanent video call links in Google Hangouts Meet isn’t perfect, to be sure. It would be a lot easier if Hangouts Meet just supported permanent meeting links. But this is a reliable and fairly painless workaround to that limitation. I hope it helps you streamline your scheduling workflow!

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