Softlinkster Reviews for Google

Description

Softlinkster Reviews for Google helps you display Google business reviews in WordPress without being locked into a single layout. Create reusable saved views, style each one separately, and place them anywhere with a shortcode.

If you want a Google reviews plugin for WordPress that can handle homepage sections, testimonial grids, review sliders, carousel layouts, or marquee-style moving rows, this plugin is built for that workflow.

What Softlinkster Reviews for Google does:

Reusable Google review views

Create multiple saved views and give each one its own shortcode. One view can be a homepage review slider, another can be a grid for a services page, and another can be a compact testimonial section for a landing page.

Flexible layout options

Choose from stacked cards, grid, compact, carousel, and marquee layouts. Each saved view keeps its own display and style settings, so different pages can show Google reviews differently without editing code.

Live preview in wp-admin

Preview layout and styling changes inside the plugin before saving. This makes it easier to tune card spacing, typography, colors, visibility options, and motion-based layouts from one screen.

Google Places business finder

Search for your business inside wp-admin, save the correct place, and reuse that saved location across views instead of copying Place IDs manually every time.

Local review curation

Hide reviews, feature important ones, and adjust internal sort weight for cached review items. This helps you shape the order of visible reviews without changing the original Google review content.

Timed review cache with scheduled sync

The plugin fetches Google Places review content, stores it in a time-limited local cache, and refreshes it on a daily schedule or on demand. This keeps the plugin aligned with Google Places caching limits instead of promising permanent review storage.

Two source modes for different needs

Choose Places API for the fastest setup when a public 5-review sample is enough, or switch to Business Profile when you own or manage the listing and need the full review library that Google exposes through Business Profile APIs.

Theme override support

The plugin ships with one neutral default template. Developers can override that output from the active theme when they want a custom frontend design.

To keep the plugin WordPress.org-safe, it does not ship with any API key. Each site owner must provide their own Google Places API key and business location data.

Admin menu:

• Google Reviews > Views
• Google Reviews > Settings

Optional constant overrides:

define( 'SOFTLINKSTER_GOOGLE_REVIEWS_GOOGLE_API_KEY', 'your-api-key-here' );

define( 'SOFTLINKSTER_GOOGLE_REVIEWS_GOOGLE_PLACE_ID', 'your-place-id-here' );

The plugin uses a neutral default template. Themes can override it by adding either of these files:

• wp-content/themes/your-theme/softlinkster-reviews-for-google/reviews.php
• wp-content/themes/your-theme/softlinkster-reviews-for-google/reviews/default.php

Primary shortcode:

[softlinkster_google_reviews]

Saved view example:

[softlinkster_google_reviews view="homepage-slider"]

Supported shortcode attributes:

• view – load a saved view by ID
• limit – maximum number of reviews to show
• min_rating – minimum rating to include
• sort – one of newest, oldest, rating_desc, or rating_asc
• location – render a saved location ID
• place_id – render a specific place ID
• layout – one of stacked, grid, compact, carousel, or marquee

Example:

[softlinkster_google_reviews view="homepage-slider" limit="6" min_rating="4" sort="rating_desc"]

External Services

This plugin connects to Google APIs provided by Google LLC.

It contacts the service when:

• an administrator searches for a business in Google Reviews > Settings
• the scheduled daily WP-Cron sync runs
• an administrator runs a manual sync from the plugin settings or view editor
• the shortcode renders while the plugin is in Places API mode and the local cache is empty
• an administrator connects Google Business Profile with OAuth and selects a managed account or location

It sends:

• the business search text entered by the administrator when the business finder is used
• the configured Google Place ID in the request URL path
• your Google Places API key in the X-Goog-Api-Key request header
• the field mask id,displayName,googleMapsUri,reviews when fetching reviews
• the field mask places.id,places.displayName,places.formattedAddress,places.googleMapsUri when searching for businesses
• a Google OAuth authorization request for the business.manage scope when Business Profile mode is connected
• the selected Business Profile account and location resource names when loading managed locations and reviews
• the stored OAuth access token in the Authorization: Bearer header for Google Business Profile requests

It receives:

• place IDs
• place display data
• place names
• formatted business addresses
• review text
• reviewer attribution
• rating values
• review publish times
• Google Maps review URLs
• Business Profile account names
• Business Profile location resource names
• Business Profile location metadata including place IDs and Maps URIs

Google Maps Platform Terms of Service:
https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms

Google Places API policies and attribution requirements:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/policies

Google Business Profile API information:
https://developers.google.com/my-business/

Google Privacy Policy:
https://policies.google.com/privacy