How to Embed Google Reviews on Your Website (2026 Guide)

Google Reviews carry more weight with shoppers than almost any other source of social proof: they are public, un-incentivised, and tied to a Google account that can be looked up. Getting them onto your own website — where the purchase decision happens — is one of the highest-leverage moves in social proof strategy. Here is how to do it cleanly.

Unlike Facebook or Instagram, Google has no official "embed this review feed" button. Their Terms of Service prohibit scraping Google reviews or displaying them without using the Google Places API. The API is the approved route, and it comes with a limit: the Places API returns a maximum of 5 reviews per place, sorted by relevance (Google's algorithm, not chronological order). You cannot pull all your reviews without a paid third-party service.

This is a deliberate design choice on Google's part — they want review reading to happen on Google Maps and Search, not off-platform. Working within these constraints means using the official API with its 5-review cap, or using an approved third-party integration that has negotiated broader access.

Method 1: Google Places API

The Places API's Place Details endpoint returns a place object that includes a reviews field — up to 5 reviews. To use it: create a Google Cloud project, enable the Places API, generate an API key, then call https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/details/json with your Place ID and your API key.

The response includes each review's author name, rating, text, and timestamp. You render them yourself as HTML. Pros: free within the standard billing quota, official, no third-party dependency. Cons: 5-review cap, server-side code required to keep the API key secret, no automatic refresh (you need a cron job or cache invalidation strategy).

Method 2: Using Idukki for Google Reviews

Idukki connects to Google Reviews as one of its social and review sources alongside Instagram, TikTok, Trustpilot, Feefo and TripAdvisor. You connect your Google Business account, set a minimum star rating filter (for example, 4 stars and above), and choose your display layout. The feed updates automatically when new reviews come in.

What this gives you that the raw API does not: automatic moderation (set a sentiment or keyword filter), mixed-source feeds (show Google Reviews and Trustpilot side by side), product-level filtering (surface the reviews that mention a specific product), and JSON-LD schema markup that the platform injects on your behalf for rich results in search.

Schema markup: making reviews appear in Google Search

Google Search shows star ratings in organic results when a page includes valid AggregateRating schema. The schema must reference reviews from a credible source — not synthesised data, not reviews you invented for SEO. For Google Reviews specifically, the most defensible approach is to pull real reviews via the API or an approved integration and generate the schema from the live data.

A valid AggregateRating block looks like this: { "@type": "AggregateRating", "ratingValue": "4.8", "reviewCount": "247", "bestRating": "5" }. The reviewCount must match the actual number of reviews you have documented. Inflating it is a rich result policy violation that can get the markup penalised. See the full schema guide for ecommerce for the complete implementation.

Embed on Shopify

Shopify does not have a native Google Reviews block in the theme editor. The simplest path is to install a reviews app from the Shopify App Store that connects to Google Business and renders a widget you can place in any section. Idukki handles this in the same dashboard you use for social content — no separate app install for reviews.

The Idukki gallery block in the Theme Editor supports a reviews-only layout that renders star rating, author name, review date and review text in a grid or carousel. The widget is lazy-loaded and does not affect your store's Lighthouse score.

Embed on WordPress or WooCommerce

Several WordPress plugins handle Google Reviews: WP Google Review Slider, Rich Reviews, and site-specific plugins from Trustpilot and BrightLocal. For brands that already use Idukki for UGC or social feeds, adding Google Reviews is a checkbox in the same integration — you do not need a separate plugin.

Filtering: only show 4 and 5 star reviews?

You can filter by star rating before displaying reviews on your site. The ethical constraint: be transparent. Displaying only 5-star reviews without disclosure, while burying negative ones, is a dark pattern that Google's policies specifically flag. The better approach is to filter at 4+ stars (which typically represents genuine satisfaction rather than cherry-picking), and to display your overall average rating alongside the filtered feed so visitors see the full picture.

Idukki's moderation settings let you set a minimum star rating filter at the feed level. The platform also calculates and renders your aggregate rating correctly, so the displayed average reflects your actual Google Business score rather than the filtered subset.

Display your reviews where the decision happens

Homepage placement builds initial trust. Product page placement reduces the specific hesitation a buyer has about this product. Checkout placement handles last-mile uncertainty. Each location has a different job, and the review content that performs best differs by location — broad brand reviews work on the homepage; product-specific reviews perform better on PDPs. For the fuller argument on placement strategy, see where to place social proof on your site.