Embed Google Reviews on Your WordPress Site
Providing positive customer reviews is one of the most effective ways to boost your business reputation and increase conversions. However, simply copying and pasting this testimonial into your site can reduce its legitimacy and even make it fake.
Luckily, embedding Google reviews into your WordPress site is easy. You can use review plugins or edit your website’s HTML code to display reviews that are automatically updated as they come in.
In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of displaying Google reviews on your site and where to place them. We will then explain a few different ways to embed them on your WordPress site.
Let’s start!
Contents
Why Showing Google Reviews Can Be Helpful
Google Reviews is part of the Google My Business platform. They allow your customers to share their experiences and leave ratings for your services. These reviews are public, and you can reply to them from your Google My Business account.
Google reviews are important because they can add credibility to your business. Approximately 86 percent of buyers use ratings to make a purchase decision. Thus, positive reviews can increase your overall e-commerce sales.
Displaying Google reviews on your site can also improve your search engine optimization (SEO). This is the process of increasing your site’s ranking in search results. Google evaluates your site based on various factors. Reviews and ratings can make up up to 15 percent of the algorithm.
Finally, reviews can encourage users to spend more time on your site. If they get hooked on reading reviews, they may stay longer on your site. This can lower your bounce rate and improve the user experience (UX) for your readers.
Where to post Google reviews
You have several different placement options with Google reviews embedded. Ideally, you want them to be easy to find and read without interfering with the rest of your site’s content.
Your first option is to place Google reviews on the home page of your website. For example, Embed Social displays testimonials on its first page.
You can place them at the bottom of your page or in the widget section. This way, potential customers will be able to see your testimonials almost immediately after they land on your site. This way, they can immediately trust your business more.
Alternatively, you can embed Google Reviews into your About Us page or create a dedicated Reviews page. Users typically visit this page to learn more about your business history, values, and other details. Displaying testimonials here can also show potential customers your reputation.
Finally, you can place testimonials on your online store’s product pages.
In addition, you can embed Google reviews of your company as a whole. Using this method, you can convince indecisive customers to make a purchase and choose your business.
How to Embed Google Reviews on Your WordPress Site (Two Methods)
Now you know how important it is to display Google reviews on your WordPress site. You should also have a good idea of where you want to embed them.
You can add these reviews to your website using a plugin or by editing your site’s HTML code. Let’s look at each method in more detail.
1. Use the widget for the Google Reviews plugin.
One of the easiest ways to embed customer reviews is to use the widget for Google Reviews plugin.
This add-on can display Google reviews in the widget section of your website. Thus, this can be a good option if you want to show testimonials on all your posts and pages.
To get started, go to your WordPress dashboard and install the plugin.
Click Activate to complete the process. Then go to the plugin settings. You can go to the “Complete Installation Guide” tab for detailed installation instructions.
First, you need to get your Google Place ID. You can find it by going to the Google Place ID Finder and entering your business name.
Next, you’ll need the Google Places API. To get it, you need to sign in to your Google Console account control panel. Then click “Select Project” and select “NEW PROJECT”.
Then go to the navigation menu and select APIS & Services > Permissions. You will be taken to the next page.
Then click “Create Credentials” > API Key. This will generate code that you will need to copy later.
To complete the process in the Google Console, open the navigation menu again and select “Payment” > “Join Payment Account” > “Create Payment Account.” You will then be prompted to sign up for a free trial.
Follow the instructions to complete the registration process. Then go back to your WordPress dashboard and plugin settings. Paste your API key here and click Save.
Then go to the Shortcode tab and enter your Google Place ID. You can also customize a few options, such as how reviews are displayed.
The plugin will automatically generate your shortcode. You can now embed Google Reviews in any post or page by adding a shortcode block and inserting your unique code.
2. Modify your site’s HTML with JavaScript.
Alternatively, you can directly embed Google reviews into your WordPress site by editing the HTML. HTML controls how various elements, such as text and images, are displayed on your website.
This strategy will use JavaScript, a popular scripting language that can interact with your site’s HTML. If you choose this method, you will be able to display Google reviews anywhere on your site. They will also be updated automatically as new feedback arrives.
Before proceeding, you can create a child theme. This way, if you make any mistakes in the following steps, they won’t damage the functionality of your site as a whole.
First, you’ll need your Google Places ID and API key. If you don’t know how to access them, check the detailed instructions in the previous section of this guide.
Next, you’ll need a Google Places script. You can follow the Maps Javascript API documentation to learn how to get it from scratch.
Now you are going to paste the script into the header section of your site. To do this, you need to edit your site’s header.php file.
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance > Theme Editor and find a file called header.php.
Then paste this script code into your file:
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="/js/google-places.js"></script>
<script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?v=3.exp&libraries=places&key=[(API_KEY)]"></script>
Instead of (API_KEY), you will enter your Google Places API. Then add the following function to the file:
<script>
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
$("#google-reviews").googlePlaces({
placeId: '[PLACES_ID]',
render: ['reviews'],
min_rating: 5
max_rows: 0
});
});
</script>
However, instead of using [PLACES_ID], you’ll provide your business ID to Google Places. When you’re ready, save your changes.
Then navigate to the post or page where you want to display embedded Google reviews. Switch to the code editor and paste the following line where you want reviews to appear:
<div id="google-reviews"></div>
Finally, save your changes. Your Google reviews should now show up in your post or page!
Summary
Displaying customer reviews on your website can help build trust in your business and increase conversions. It can also improve your search engine rankings. Luckily, there are some easy ways to make this feedback visible to your customers.
As a reminder, you can embed Google reviews into your WordPress site:
- Using the widget for Google Reviews plugin to display them in posts and pages
- Edit your site’s HTML code directly with JavaScript.
Do you have questions about how to embed Google reviews on your site? Let us know in the comments below!
Read Also :
