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How to embed Google reviews on your website (5 methods compared)

Copy-paste, JavaScript widget, WordPress plugin, server include or API: how to add Google reviews to your site so Google and AI can read them.

By Oz IlyasFounder of Revys

Published October 19, 2026

Contents

Your Google reviews already convince people on Maps. Putting them on your website brings that proof to the page where people book, call or ask for a quote. The real question is how to embed them so they stay current and can be read by Google and by AI search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, not just by human visitors.

Can you embed Google reviews with a Google tool?

Not the reviews themselves. In Google Maps, Share then "Embed a map" gives you an iframe with your business name, address and rating. Your review text isn't included, and Google doesn't provide a review widget.

So you're left with five methods. They differ on two things: where the review text ends up (in your HTML or somewhere else) and who keeps it updated (you, or an automatic sync).

What are the ways to add Google reviews to a website?

Here's the short version. Each method is explained below.

Method	Readable by Google	Readable by AI crawlers	Auto-updates	Effort
Manual copy-paste	Yes	Yes	No	Low, then repeat forever
JavaScript widget / iframe	Partly, credited to the vendor	No	Yes	Very low (one line)
Server-rendered WordPress plugin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Low (install, paste a key)
Server include (PHP, Next.js…)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Medium (one server-side line)
JSON API	Yes, if rendered on the server	Yes, if rendered on the server	Yes	High (custom build)

"Readable by AI crawlers" means the review text is in the HTML your server sends back. Vercel analyzed AI crawler traffic across its network and found that none of the major AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and others) rendered JavaScript at the time (December 2024). If it's not in the HTML, they don't see it.

1. Manual copy-paste

You paste a few reviews into a testimonials section, with the reviewer's first name and the date.

Pros: free, quick, and the text is in your HTML.
Cons: it goes stale. Within a few months your "latest" review is from last year. Screenshots are worse: they're images, so search engines can't read the words.

Fine as a stopgap. If you do it, keep the exact wording, name and date, and don't cherry-pick only five-star reviews.

This is what most review widget vendors give you: paste a <script> tag and the reviews load in the visitor's browser, often inside an iframe.

Pros: works on any site builder, including Wix, where it's often the only option. Updates itself.
Cons: the reviews aren't in your page. AI crawlers that read raw HTML skip them. Google does run JavaScript, but in a second pass when it has resources, and its own docs say server-side rendering is "still a great idea" because not all bots can run JavaScript. With an iframe, the content belongs to the vendor's URL, not yours.

Good for visitors, weak for visibility.

3. Server-rendered WordPress plugin

On WordPress, a plugin can store your reviews in your site and print them straight into the page HTML, no JavaScript needed. Many "Google reviews plugins" actually load a JavaScript widget under the hood, so check the page source before you commit (see the test below).

The Revys WordPress plugin uses a push model: every night Revys sends your latest reviews to your site, the plugin saves them, and a Gutenberg block or shortcode renders them on the server. Your page doesn't call any outside service when it loads.

4. Server include

Your server fetches a ready-made HTML fragment and drops it into the page before sending it to the browser. This is the route for sites built with PHP, Next.js, Astro, Node.js, Python or Ruby.

With Revys, in a Next.js App Router project, it's one Server Component:

export async function RevysReviews() {
  const res = await fetch("https://revys.io/api/embed/YOUR_ID/html", {
    next: { revalidate: 3600 },
    signal: AbortSignal.timeout(2000),
  });
  if (!res.ok) return null;
  return <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: await res.text() }} />;
}

The fragment carries its own scoped CSS and JSON-LD, with no JavaScript. The snippet caches for an hour and gives up after two seconds, so a slow response never breaks your page. Full walkthroughs for Next.js and for PHP and plain HTML sites.

5. JSON API

You pull your reviews as JSON and build the display yourself. This suits developers and agencies who want full control over the design.

There are two Google APIs, and the difference matters:

The Places API (Google Maps Platform) returns up to 5 reviews per place, sorted by relevance. Many free widgets rely on it, which is why they show the same five reviews forever.
The Google Business Profile API returns all your reviews, paginated (up to 50 per call), but requires the profile owner's permission through OAuth.

Revys uses the Google Business Profile API and exposes your reviews through its own endpoint (GET /api/v1/reviews, API key, Pro plan). One caveat: if you render that JSON with client-side JavaScript, you're back to method 2's limits. Render it on the server.

Which method fits your website?

It mostly depends on your platform. Each one has a step-by-step page in our integration guides by platform (WordPress, Elementor, Divi, Wix, Shopify, Webflow…).

Your site	Best method	Readable by AI crawlers
WordPress	Server-rendered plugin	Yes
Next.js, Astro, Node.js	Server include (Server Component)	Yes
PHP, Laravel, HTML with PHP	Server include	Yes
Any site behind Cloudflare	Cloudflare Worker that inserts the fragment	Yes
Squarespace, Webflow, Shopify	Pasted HTML block (re-paste when new reviews arrive) or JavaScript widget	Yes for pasted HTML, no for the widget
Wix	JavaScript widget	No

Wix puts custom code inside an iframe, so no third-party tool can place your reviews in the page HTML there. Worth knowing before you pick a platform-specific plan.

How do you check that Google and AI can read your reviews?

It takes a minute.

Open the page source
On the page that shows your reviews, right-click and choose "View page source" (Ctrl+U, or Cmd+Option+U on a Mac). Don't use DevTools: it shows the page after JavaScript has run.
Search for a review
Press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F) and paste a few words from one of your reviews. If you find them, the text is in your HTML.
Look for scripts and iframes
If all you find where the reviews should be is a <script src="…"> or an <iframe>, the reviews load later and AI crawlers miss them.
Or run the free checker
Our AI review visibility checker fetches your page the way a crawler does and tells you whether your reviews are there.

Why this matters for ChatGPT search, Perplexity and AI Overviews: see Google reviews and AI search.

The tools on the market are tested against these criteria in our comparison of the best Google reviews widgets.

Official data: the Google Business Profile API, not scraping that can break overnight.
All your reviews, not just the five the Places API returns.
Automatic sync, at least daily, with no manual step.
Deleted or edited reviews removed from your site too.
Clean structured data: LocalBusiness or Organization, no self-serving AggregateRating.
Honest sorting: show recent reviews, not only the best ones.
Reviews in the HTML wherever your platform allows it.

Where should you put reviews on your site?

Put them where people make the decision, not on a page nobody visits.

Next to your call to action: a badge or a short carousel near "Book now", "Get a quote" or your phone number.
On service or location pages: reviews that mention a specific service or city help visitors and give those pages relevant, fresh text.
On a dedicated reviews page: a grid or wall with all your reviews, linked from your footer.

Keep negative reviews visible along with your replies. A wall of perfect five-star reviews looks filtered, and a calm, useful reply to a complaint often reassures more than another compliment.

What Revys does, and what it doesn't

Revys connects to your Google Business Profile through the official API, fetches your reviews every night, and writes them into your site's HTML with compliant schema.org markup. You get five layouts (grid, list, carousel, wall, badge), free for one profile. See the Google reviews widget page for details.

What it doesn't do today: Facebook or Trustpilot reviews (Google only for now; more platforms are coming), and AI-readable reviews on Wix, where no server-side method exists. The widget can show its labels in English or French, and your reviews always show in the language they were written in.

FAQ

Does Google offer an official widget to embed reviews?

No. Google Maps lets you embed a map of your business, which shows your rating, but not your list of reviews. To show the reviews themselves you need a third-party tool or your own integration with the Google Business Profile API.

How can I embed Google reviews on my website for free?

Several tools have a free plan. Revys is free for one Google Business Profile, with unlimited widgets and views, all five layouts, and reviews written into your HTML. The trade-off is a small "Free widget by Revys" credit under the widget.

How do I embed Google reviews on Wix?

Use a JavaScript widget pasted into an Embed Code element. It works, but Wix places custom code in an iframe, so the review text never ends up in your page's HTML and AI crawlers can't read it. No third-party tool can work around that on Wix today.

Will embedding Google reviews give me stars in Google search results?

No. Google does not show review stars for reviews a business publishes about itself on its own site (self-serving reviews), whatever the widget. A local business gets its stars from its Google Business Profile, in Maps and the local pack.

Do Google review widgets help SEO?

They help when the reviews are in your page's HTML: that's fresh, relevant text that Google and AI crawlers can read. A widget loaded with JavaScript or in an iframe adds little, because the content isn't really part of your page.

Why does my widget only show 5 Google reviews?

It probably uses the Google Places API, which returns at most five reviews per place, sorted by relevance. Tools connected to the Google Business Profile API with the owner's permission can access all of your reviews.