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How to Embed Google Reviews on Your Website (and Why)

Nov 22, 2023

Google reviews offer customers the chance to share raw, honest feedback on their experiences with businesses. Flaunting positive reviews on your website is an excellent asset for your brand, as it can sway customer decisions and bolster your reputation and search engine ranking.

But before you can show off customer feedback, you’ll have to learn how to embed Google reviews on your website. Embedding Google reviews on your website is a process that sends review data from your Google Business Page to your website and displays it automatically (no cutting or pasting required).

Here’s everything you should know about embedding Google reviews on your website:

Why Should You Add Google Reviews to Your Website?

Potential customers often examine Google reviews with a fine-toothed comb before making a purchase, setting up a demo or making an appointment. Customers trust Google reviewers (past customers) to be ambassadors or critics of your brand. They have a good reason to rely on Google as a review platform, too — Google doesn’t delete bad reviews, and businesses can’t delete reviews on their own (they can only flag spam reviews for potential removal). 

But, in addition to allowing future clients an opportunity to explore reviews directly from your website, it also reminds past clients to write a review of their own. If they return to your site to make a repeat purchase and see a Google reviews widget, they may be inclined to write one themselves. 

Beyond influencing customer decisions and showcasing feedback, there are plenty of other key benefits of adding Google reviews to your website:

  • Enhanced brand credibility and trust. There’s no better way to prove your brand’s credibility than by including reviews from real customers on your website. Positive reviews build trust in your brand and prove to customers that your product or service is a worthwhile investment.
  • Increased engagement. Incentivizing customers to leave Google reviews is a great way to get them to interact with your brand – and the more reviews you have, the more likely other customers are to engage with your brand. 
  • Higher conversion rates. Positive reviews increase confidence in your brand, resulting in higher conversion rates. 
  • Better customer insights. Scouring the web to see what people are saying about your business is time-consuming. Google reviews offer important insights into your brand in one place, making it easy to take the pulse of your audience and see what they do (and don’t) like. 
  • Improved local SEO. Did you know that showcasing user-generated content on your website can improve local SEO? Incorporating reviews can greatly increase website visibility, leading to more traffic and a wider reach. 
  • Budget-friendly marketing. Traditional advertising only goes so far. Displaying real reviews lets prospective customers in on how existing customers feel about your brand, and it can help you market your business without spending a dime. 

Advantages of Embedding vs. Manually Updating

While you could simply copy and paste text from Google reviews into your website, this might not be the most efficient or useful way to display customer feedback. Here’s why embedding Google reviews may be a better option than manually adding them:

  • It’s easier. You’re already expected to respond to reviews — why spend time copying and pasting them to your website, too? Embedding is more hands-off after the initial setup.
  • Your reviews are always current. There are only so many hours in a day and transcribing reviews from Google onto your website could easily become a back-burner task when time runs short. Embedding will automatically refresh the reviews, giving your clients current information at all times.
  • You’ll appear more credible. If your reviews are manually copied and pasted into a testimonials page or a banner on your website, it gives the impression that you only want your customers to see the feedback you want them to see. Keeping reviews current is the best way to maintain credibility.

Of course, it’s a great idea to highlight exceptional reviews on your website in text form. However, giving your customers access to all of your Google reviews directly from your site is easier, guarantees up-to-the-minute information and makes you appear more credible.

How to Get Google Reviews

Showcasing Google reviews on your business’s website is a smart move – but what should you do if you don’t have any?

Getting Google reviews is as simple as asking your customers to leave them. Once your customer has made a purchase, send them a link to access the review platform. Here’s how to find your custom review link:

  1. Log into your Google Business Profile.
  2. Select customers → Reviews → Get more reviews
  3. Copy and paste the link provided 

Once you have the link, take a closer look – can customers type it into a web browser in less than ten seconds? If not, clean up the link with a link shortener (like Bitly). 

You can also simply the process by creating a QR code that will take customers directly to the review platform. 

3 Different Ways to Embed Google Reviews

Connecting consumers with your review content can be powerful. Let’s explore a few ways you can embed Google reviews on website pages: 

1. Use a WordPress Plugin

If you have a WordPress website, you’re in luck—there’s a free plugin available, and you can add it to your site to embed Google reviews without the hassle. 

This plugin is powerful for a few reasons:

  • It’s customizable—you can trim long reviews with a “Read More” link, adjust the widget layout and more.
  • It’s Dark Mode compatible for users defaulting to Dark Mode in their browser (a feature of both desktop and mobile browsers).
  • It includes a “Review Us on Google” button that you can use to collect additional reviews from website visitors.

2. Use a Third-Party Widget

If your website runs on a site-building platform other than WordPress, the platform may not have a Google review widget available. If this is the case, you may have to use a third-party service. 

Ideally, you want this solution to be free – but if you don’t like the free tool, you can switch to a different one without unnecessary expense. Paid services might produce more customizable, attractive or functional displays. 

SociableKIT offers a free Google review embed widget — all you need to get started is your Google Place ID

3. Code the Website Addition Yourself

If you have coding chops, you can always build your own widget to display Google reviews on your website. To do this, you’ll need:

  • A verified Google Business Page
  • At least one live customer review on your Business Page
  • Your Google Place ID
  • Your API Key

Once you have this information, you can start the coding process. Luckily, numerous pre-written codes are available that you can copy, paste and customize as needed. 

But, if you’re not a coding whiz, stick with a pre-built widget for simplicity and ease.

Embedding Individual Reviews is No Longer Possible

It was once possible for website owners to select an "embed" option from the dropdown menu in each Google Review. 

However, Google has since removed this feature. Now, if you click on the three-dot icon next to a review on your Google My Business listing, you'll see options to share or flag it as inappropriate, but not to embed it. 

The best way to do this now is to download a plugin, use a third-party widget or code the website addition yourself. 

Tips for Displaying Google Reviews

tips for how to embed Google reviews

To seamlessly integrate Google reviews onto your website, consider the following tips:

  • Highlight key reviews. Showing every review (good and bad) is important – but it’s acceptable to call out a few reviews that speak highly of your product or service. Place these somewhere your customers won’t miss.
  • Strategic placement. Position Google reviews prominently on your website, preferably near the homepage or product/service page. This will ensure that visitors encounter these reviews early on.
  • Responsive design. Be certain that the way you display Google reviews is compatible with various devices. Again, you want anyone who visits your website to access reviews easily. 
  • Customization. Many Google review widgets are customizable, so pick a design that enhances the overall look and feel of your website. 
  • Link to Google profiles. Allow users to explore individual reviewer profiles by linking directly to their Google profiles. This adds an extra layer of authenticity to the displayed reviews, as customers can verify that the review (and reviewer) is real. 
  • Utilize rich snippets. Rich snippets provide additional information, like star ratings, that can make your business stand out in search listings. 

Best Practices for Review Management

Customers want to see brands engage with their reviewers. Managing Google reviews is a great way to interact with your customers, maintain a positive brand image and keep an eye on the pulse of your audience. Here are a few important best practices for review management:

  • Monitor your reviews regularly to flag spam contributions. Google will remove it if it violates their policies.
  • Respond to positive and negative reviews to show that you’re invested in customer feedback. Consider using response templates to speed up this process.
  • Encourage past and current clients to write reviews as another tactic to show customers that you care about their input. 

These are essential measures after you embed Google reviews on your website. Once you embed them, clients (past, present and future) are more likely to interact with them, so do your best to properly communicate your investment in customer feedback. 

Collect and Flaunt Customer Feedback with Textedly 

Displaying customer feedback is a critical asset to any business’s website. By showcasing customer reviews, you can facilitate positive word-of-mouth messaging involving your brand, increase your visibility and bolster your reputation. 

Not sure how to get started? Textedly's online review management software makes collecting, managing and monitoring feedback easy. You’ll only need a single dashboard to monitor reviews across the web, allowing you to streamline customer interactions and hone your efforts.

And, with text message marketing, requesting reviews is simpler than ever. Textedly provides SMS and MMS marketing services that help thousands of trusted brands nationwide leverage the power of text to communicate with existing, new and potential customers. 

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