How to add Google reviews to your website

Someone who reaches your store for the first time from an ad or a search doesn't know you. Even if they like the product, the same question is on their mind: “Is it safe to buy from this store?” To find out, they might leave and look your store up on Google, and there's no telling whether they'll come back.

Your Google reviews already answer that question. Showing them on your site, on the page where the visitor is deciding, saves them the trip. This guide covers the ways to add Google reviews to your site, which layout works where and how the reviews stay up to date.

How do you add Google reviews to your site?

There are three ways: put screenshots of your reviews on the site, have a developer build a custom section, or use a ready-made reviews widget. A screenshot works on day one, but it goes stale as new reviews arrive and visitors can't check that it's real. Custom development needs maintenance too. A widget keeps the reviews up to date by itself and links to your business page on Google.

In Roigo, setup takes four steps:

1. In Widget Studio, choose the Google reviews, Google reviews grid or Google rating badge template.
2. Search for your Google business by name and city and select it from the list. Your reviews arrive in about half a minute.
3. Set the layout, the minimum star rating and where the widget sits on the page.
4. Add the install code to your site once and publish. You won't need to add it again for future widgets.

What real reviews give your visitors

• A voice other than yours. The store writes the product description; a review is written by someone who bought from you. Next to your own words, the visitor sees a customer's experience.
• A source they can check. Each review shows the author's name, rating and date, and the rating summary and badge link to your Google Maps page. Visitors can go and look at the source if they want.
• Freshness. Reviews refresh every day and show their dates, which is what sets them apart from last year's screenshot.
• How you handle problems. If you turn on owner replies, visitors also see how your store responds when something goes wrong.

Measure the effect with your own data rather than someone else's numbers: compare your conversion rate for a few weeks before and after publishing the widget, and keep campaigns that started in the same period separate.

Three layouts: carousel, grid and rating badge

In the carousel and grid, review text is cut after 4 lines by default and long reviews get a “Read more” link. In the review settings you can also switch to a list layout, and choose 2 to 4 columns for the grid.

How it works: pick your business by name

You don't sign in with Google or grant any permissions to show your Google reviews. In Widget Studio, or on the Google reviews card in your store settings, you search for your business by the name and city it shows on Google Maps (for example “Blue Bottle Coffee Oakland”) and pick yours from up to five results. The reviews are taken from your business's public Google listing, stored on our servers and served to your site from there. Searching and connecting require a confirmed email address.

• Which reviews: the 30 newest, only those with text. Each review is shown in the author's original words, not Google's added translation.
• How often: every day; the daily refresh adds only new reviews. Every 30 days the reviews are fetched from scratch, so deleted or edited reviews and owner replies are updated too.
• Manual refresh: with Refresh now on the Google reviews card in your store settings, at most once an hour.
• If something goes wrong: when a refresh fails, the last reviews keep showing for up to 30 days; if they can't be refreshed for 30 days, they're deleted and the reviews widget is hidden on your site.
• One business: each store connects to one Google business; to switch to another branch, use Change business. Disconnect deletes all imported reviews.

Which reviews should you show?

The Minimum stars setting is 4+ by default, and you can choose All, 3+, 4+ or 5. It only decides which review cards appear: the rating summary and the badge always show your overall Google rating and total review count. So the rating on your site matches the one on Google.

• Loosen the limit if you have few reviews. If you pick 5 stars only, the carousel may be left with a handful of cards; 3+ or All looks fuller.
• Turn on owner replies. They're off by default. Your replies to criticism show visitors how you act when there's a problem.
• Keep the “Write a review on Google” button on. It takes happy customers straight to your Google review page.
• Show the date. Recent reviews tell visitors your store is active today.

Where should you place it?

The in-page templates (carousel and grid) sit right above the page footer by default, with no extra code. If you want them elsewhere, you have two options: paste the small code box from the dashboard where you want the widget on your site, or enter a CSS selector and place the widget before, after or inside that element.

• Pages: all pages, the home page, product, category or cart pages, or pages whose address contains a given phrase.
• Devices: all, desktop only or mobile only. Widgets are mobile-friendly; check both previews in the studio before publishing.
• The badge's corner: the rating badge sits in the bottom-left corner by default and can be moved; if your site has a live chat or WhatsApp button in the same corner, keep the badge clear of it.

An example layout: a reviews carousel above the footer on the home page and the rating badge on product and cart pages. That's two separate widgets, and the number of live widgets depends on your plan. The same install code also runs other widgets, like a free shipping bar or an exit-intent popup.

Go live with Widget Studio

The dashboard shows step by step where the install code goes on your platform: there are separate steps for ideasoft, ikas and Shopify, and on any other platform the code goes in the custom code field that runs on every page of your site. Once the code is running, the dashboard marks it as verified. Before publishing, go through this list:

• The business you selected is the right branch: its name and address match Google Maps.
• The “Preview uses sample reviews” label is gone and the preview shows your own reviews.
• The minimum stars and owner reply settings are the way you want them.
• The widget's position and page targeting are right, and on mobile the badge doesn't overlap another button.
• The install code is on your site and the dashboard shows it as verified.
• No popup or campaign offers a discount or gift in exchange for a review.

The Free plan includes 1 live widget and 5,000 views a month, and a reviews widget can be one of them. For more than one widget, such as the carousel and the badge together, paid plans have higher limits (plans).