See this widget in action here.
Want to build trust by displaying your Google reviews directly on your website? The Google Reviews widget in aThemes Addons for Elementor lets you pull in reviews from your Google Business Profile and present them in a grid or carousel layout with ratings, photos, and schema markup for SEO.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to activate, configure, and style the Google Reviews widget in aThemes Addons.
Table of Contents
Before you get started, make sure you’ve installed and activated the aThemes Addons plugin on your WordPress site along with Elementor. This widget requires aThemes Addons Pro.
Activating the Widget
Go to your WordPress admin area and open the aThemes Addons dashboard. Locate the Google Reviews widget and toggle the switch to enable it. Once activated, the widget is available in the Elementor editor.
Exploring Widget Options
The Google Reviews widget includes sections for connecting to the Google Places API, choosing a layout, and selecting which review elements to display. Below is a breakdown of each section.
Configuring Google API Settings
The API Settings section connects the widget to your Google Business Profile:
- Google Places API Key – Enter your API key from the Google Cloud Console.
- Place ID – Enter the Google Place ID for your business location.
- Language – Set the language for reviews (e.g., “en” for English).
- Sort By – Choose to display reviews sorted by Most Relevant or Newest.
Configuring the Layout
The Layout section controls how reviews are arranged on the page:
- Layout Type – Choose between Grid or Carousel display.
- Columns – Set the number of reviews displayed per row.
- Arrows and Dots – Toggle navigation arrows and pagination dots for carousel layouts.
- Autoplay – Enable autoplay and set the speed for automatic carousel scrolling.
Configuring the Elements
The Elements section lets you choose which parts of the review data to display:
- Place Image – Show the Google Business photo or upload a custom image.
- Title – Display your business name as a header above the reviews.
- Ratings – Show the average star rating and total review count.
- Reviews – Display individual reviews including the reviewer’s photo, name, date, and review content.
- Schema Markup – Enable structured data markup for improved SEO visibility in search results.
Customizing Style Options
The Style tab provides options to customize the visual appearance of your reviews display:
- Wrapper – Adjust the background, padding, margin, border, and box shadow for the overall reviews container.
- Place – Style the business image, title, and rating display at the top of the widget.
- Review – Customize colors, typography, and spacing for individual review cards.
- Navigation – Style the carousel arrows and pagination dots appearance.
Managing Caching and Performance
The widget includes caching options to reduce API calls and improve page load times:
- Caching Time – Set the duration for cached review data (e.g., 1 hour, 1 day). This reduces the number of API requests to Google.
- Clear Cache – Manually clear the cache to fetch fresh reviews from Google immediately.
That’s it! You’ve successfully set up the Google Reviews widget to display customer reviews on your site.
Next, would you like to add interactive image effects? Check out our guide on using the Image Accordion widget to learn more.
