How to get Google star ratings onto your WordPress website

Reviews are powerful. It’s simple. In 2021, PowerReviews reported that over 99.9% of customers will read reviews by other customers before purchasing a product online. That’s a powerful statement that should already showcase the importance of customer reviews. If people can see five stars, or even better, a positive comment about your business, it will boost the chance someone chooses to invest in your business.

You should already have a Google Maps Business profile set up, which will help people find your business organically and drive more traffic to your site. However, if you want to take it further, your next step should be adding your Google reviews to your WordPress website itself. If people are already on your website and then taking time to search for your reviews, then the time they’re taking out could cause them to lose attention in your site. So, why not cut out the middle man and streamline the process for your customers? By embedding your Google star reviews onto your WordPress website, you’re giving customers an easy way to view how good your services are. Furthermore, for other customers that just happen to be on your website, there’s a good chance they’ll stumble across your outstanding reviews from customers.

How do I get reviews on Google?

The first step is to create a Google Business profile to allow the world to find your business through on their search results page. Done that already? Fantastic! The next step is to get some reviews for your business. Now, whilst this might sound like a daunting and long process, you can rack up a good amount of reviews quickly. If you’re selling products and have Email Marketing, why not send a prompt to customers who have brought a product and ask them to quickly leave a review (this has been a proven strategy to increase product and service reviews).

Embed Google star reviews on your WordPress website using trustindex.io

Trustindex.io

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You can add your reviews to the site by using a plugin called Widgets for Google Reviews. The first step is install the plugin to your WordPress website. You can do this by:

1. Head to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Look on the left-hand site of your screen and navigate to Plugins.
3. Then, in the top-left hand corner, press Add New.
4. In the search bar, type in Widgets for Google Reviews
5. Install the plugin that looks like this:

6. Once the plugin has been installed, press activate.

Trustindex.io is a great plugin developer to use because it updates in real time. This means that when a new review is left on Google, it will automatically be added to your website too! They also offer a wide range of designs and templates through which you can display your reviews. These are also all visible to you in your WordPress dashboard, where you can view and customize the reviews layout.

Take a look at the below example from The Elite Web Co., who use Trustindex.io to display their 5 star reviews. The smooth scrolling feature allows visitors to see all the reviews in a way that isn’t overcrowding or messy.

Using Taggbox to embed Google reviews on your WordPress website

Taggbox

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Taggbox is a user-generated content website that includes a widget for Google reviews. This allows you to connect your Google my Business account to the widget and display them on your website. However, Taggbox offers far more features than just reviews. Whilst these features are great, it also offers tiered price plans. You are able to have the widget itself for free. However it comes with many limitations that you can only unlock by paying the monthly fee which starts at $29 per month. Although, this may be worth looking into if you want to explore the other features that can be used with Taggbox.

In order to use Taggbox, you must first create an account on their website, whether it be free or a paid subscription. After that, download the plugin from your WordPress dashboard using the instructions above and you will be prompted to log in.

Embed your Google reviews onto your WordPress website with RichPlugins

RichPlugins

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RichPlugins offer a plugin called Plugin for Google Reviews. This is a popular choice that allows you to integrate your Google reviews to your website by creating your own Google Places API key.

If the idea of an API key seems alien to you, or even stresses you out, don’t worry! Simply install the plugin as normal and then head to the plugin dashboard. The developer has been kind enough to include step-by-step instructions to guide you through the process of creating and adding an API key to your website. This should make the process extremely straightforward.

A great feature about this plugin is it gives you a live builder whilst constructing your reviews. Similar to Elementor, this allows you to see live changes and edit them before making your plugin live. After this, simply copy the short code provided and insert it into your website wherever you desire it.

Embed your Google reviews onto your WordPress website with Reviews Block for Google

Reviews Block for Google

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The final plugin we will look at comes from WP Business Reviews. Much like RichPlugins, you need to create and insert your own API Key. However, the great thing about Reviews Block is that it is actually a physical block! This means you can insert it directly into the WordPress editor instead of using short code. By default, there will be a short card describing your business, which isn’t too dissimilar to the one visible on Google search results. You do have the option to toggle whether this shows, however beyond that, there isn’t too much you can customize unless you upgrade to their premium plan (which starts at $49 per year).

To summarise

Google reviews can prove a powerful asset to your website. They are one of the best and most authentic ways to validate your business to potential customers, because you are using pre-existing customers! So, if you’re looking for a way to spread the good word about yourselves, why not help spread it by embedding Google reviews onto your WordPress website today!