How to show your Google reviews on your website
Updated October 28, 2026 · 3 min read
There are three ways, from a free link to fully automatic: link to your Google Business Profile, embed a Google map of your business, or pull your latest reviews onto the page through Google’s Places API. Only the last one shows the review text, and it comes with rules: at most five reviews, the author credited on each one, the Google Maps logo, and no copying reviews into your own database.
Three ways, compared
| Method | Shows review text | Cost | Set-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Link to your Google profile | No, visitors read them on Google | Free | Minutes |
| Embedded Google map | No, visitors click through to Google | Free: the Maps Embed API has no usage cap | Minutes |
| Places API on your own page | Yes, up to five, with the star rating | 1,000 lookups a month free, then US$25 per 1,000 | Needs a developer |
| A review app or plugin | Depends on the app | Usually a monthly subscription | Minutes |
Prices are from the Google Maps Platform price list, updated on 23 October 2026, in US dollars. Reviews are billed at the Place Details Enterprise + Atmosphere rate.
A link costs nothing and can go on every page today. The API is worth it on the pages where trust decides the sale: the home page, service pages and the booking page.
The rules for showing Google reviews
Google sets these in its Places API policies, last updated on 27 October 2026. They apply to anyone who shows reviews from the API, whether you build the display yourself or use an app.
- Five at most. The API returns “a maximum of 5 reviews”, sorted by relevance, according to Google’s Place reference. If you filter them, for example to show only five-star reviews, the page has to say how they were chosen.
- Credit the author. Show the author’s name, photo and profile link where there’s room; the photo is the minimum.
- Show the Google Maps logo when the reviews aren’t next to a Google map. The words “Google Maps” are allowed where space is tight. Never hide or shrink the attribution.
- Link each review back to Google Maps, so visitors can see it in place.
- Don’t store reviews. Fetch them fresh each time. The place ID is the only thing you may keep.
- Say when a review is translated, and let the visitor see the original.
Setting it up with the Places API
- Find your business’s place ID with Google’s Place ID Finder.
- Create a Google Maps Platform API key and restrict it to your website and to the Places API.
- Request your place’s rating and reviews through Place Details.
- Show each review with the author’s name and photo, the rating, how long ago it was posted and a link to Google Maps. Add the logo and a line on how the reviews are sorted.
- Set a budget alert in Google Cloud so a traffic spike doesn’t turn into a bill.
On Wix, Squarespace or WordPress
Each has review apps or plugins in its marketplace, most on a monthly plan. Before installing one, check three things: it shows the author’s name and the Google logo, it loads reviews live rather than copying them, and it says how the reviews are sorted.
Sources
- Google Maps Platform: Policies and attributions for Places API (October 2026)
- Google Maps Platform: Place resource reference
- Google Maps Platform: Place Details (New) (October 2026) and Place IDs
- Google Maps Platform: Pricing (October 2026)
- Google Cloud: Create, edit or delete budgets and budget alerts
Rules and prices were checked in October 2026 and can change.
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