Title: Desk9 Reviews for Google Author: Desk9 Design Published: August 26, 2026 Last modified: August 26, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/desk9-reviews-for-google/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=3667023) ![](https://ps.w.org/desk9-reviews-for-google/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3667023) # Desk9 Reviews for Google By [Desk9 Design](https://profiles.wordpress.org/desk9/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/desk9-reviews-for-google.1.0.0.zip) * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/desk9-reviews-for-google/#description) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/desk9-reviews-for-google/#reviews) * [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/desk9-reviews-for-google/#installation) * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/desk9-reviews-for-google/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/desk9-reviews-for-google/) ## Description **Add a key. Pick your business. Always show your latest Google reviews.** Desk9 Reviews uses the official Google Places API to automatically keep the latest real Google reviews (stars, author, comment) up to date on your WordPress site. You never copy or create reviews by hand — and there is no OAuth flow and no Google verification to wait for. You simply add a Google Places API key and search for your business. The plugin is deliberately focused: one business, one global design, sixteen layouts. It is built for local businesses — practices, trades, restaurants, hotels, agencies, retailers and freelancers. **Features** * Automatic synchronization of your latest Google reviews (hourly refresh + a daily full reconciliation). * Sixteen layouts, from a one-line text rating to a full carousel — all from one render engine. * Five design presets (Inherit theme, Clean, Soft, Outline, Dark) plus a Custom preset that unlocks every colour. * Light, dark or “follow the visitor’s system setting” — every layout works on any theme background. * A dynamic Gutenberg block and a `[rdgfg_rating_display]` shortcode that share one render engine. * A live preview with a layout gallery, device sizes and instant colour/size feedback. * Reviews are sorted by their original creation time, so the newest reviews really are shown first. * Server-side only: the public frontend never calls Google, so pages stay fast. * Accessible (WCAG 2.1 AA target), privacy-first, no external fonts, no telemetry. * Fully translation-ready and **WPML / Polylang compatible**. **Rating layouts** (average, stars and review count) 1. Inline Text Rating — a single line such as “4.9 ★★★★★ 80 reviews” that flows inside a sentence, a heading or next to a button, in five density steps from XL down to a micro “★ 4.9” for button rows. 2. Rating Badge — compact trust block, vertical or horizontal. 3. Rating Bar — horizontal trust bar with an optional “Write a review” button. 4. Notification Bar — an ultra-slim single-line strip for headers. 5. Trust Strip — overlapping reviewer initials next to the rating. 6. Rating Divider — the rating as a section separator between two rules. 7. Freshly Reviewed — a chip showing how recently the last review came in. 8. Image Halo — the rating as a pill over one of your own images. **Review layouts** (individual comments) 1. Review Grid — responsive review cards, one to three columns. 2. Review Carousel — summary plus a slider of review cards. 3. Review Showcase — split summary and slider for homepages. 4. Quote Spotlight — the single most convincing review as a large quotation. 5. Card Deck — stacked cards you click through. 6. Sidebar Widget — a narrow vertical list for sidebars and footers. 7. Review Ticker — short quotes running as a band, made for footers. 8. Sticky Trust Pill — a corner badge that opens a panel with your reviews. **Shortcode** ``` [rdgfg_rating_display layout="inline" size="s"] [rdgfg_rating_display layout="grid" reviews="3" columns="3"] [rdgfg_rating_display layout="quote" pick="newest"] ``` Attributes: `layout` (inline, badge, bar, notice, strip, divider, chip, halo, grid, carousel, showcase, quote, deck, widget, ticker, pill), `reviews` (1–5 — grid, carousel, showcase, deck, widget, ticker), `size` (xs, s, m, l, xl — inline), `variant` (vertical, horizontal — badge), `columns` (1–3 — grid), float (none, top, bottom for the bars; none plus top/bottom-left/center/right for Badge, Freshly reviewed and Sticky pill),` dismissible`, pick (best, newest, longest or 1–5 — quote spotlight), `show_summary`, show_cta, `show_maps_link`, `show_avatars`, `show_date`, `cta_card`, text_lines,` align` (left, center, right), `image` (media ID — image halo), class. Anything you leave out follows the global Display & Styling settings. ### External services This plugin connects to Google’s official **Places API (New)** to read the public rating and reviews of the business you connect. It is required for the plugin to work. Requests used: * Places API Text Search — to find your business by name during setup. * Places API Place Details — to read the rating, review count and latest reviews. **When data is transmitted:** only during setup (business search) and during scheduled or manual synchronization on the server. The public frontend never contacts Google. **What is sent:** your API key and place/search requests to Google. No data is sent to Melonlabs or any other third party. **What is stored:** the latest reviews Google returns (author display name, rating, comment, dates) plus a business snapshot, cached for a limited time. Your API key is stored in the WordPress options table and used only for server-side requests. You can disconnect at any time and optionally delete all data on uninstall. Google applies its own terms and privacy policy to this data: * Google Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms * Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy * Places API: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/ overview ### Privacy The plugin sets no cookies, does not track visitors, includes no analytics or telemetry, and loads no external fonts. See the Third-Party Services section and the suggested privacy-policy text the plugin adds under Settings Privacy. ### Google Disclaimer Desk9 Reviews for Google is an independent plugin and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google LLC. Google and Google Business Profile are trademarks of Google LLC. ### Known Limitations * Requires a Google Places API key on a Cloud project with billing enabled. * The Places API returns up to five reviews per business, so at most five recent reviews are shown. Getting _all_ reviews would require the OAuth-based Business Profile API, which this plugin intentionally does not use. * One business per site. Reviews are sorted by their original publish time so the newest reviews are shown first. ## Screenshots [⌊Inline Text Rating layout.⌉⌊Inline Text Rating layout.⌉[ Inline Text Rating layout. [⌊Rating Badge and Rating Bar layouts.⌉⌊Rating Badge and Rating Bar layouts.⌉[ Rating Badge and Rating Bar layouts. [⌊Trust Strip, Divider and Freshly Reviewed layouts.⌉⌊Trust Strip, Divider and Freshly Reviewed layouts.⌉[ Trust Strip, Divider and Freshly Reviewed layouts. ## Blocks This plugin provides 1 block. * Desk9 Reviews Show your latest real Google reviews with sixteen modern layouts. ## Installation 1. Install and activate the plugin. 2. In the Google Cloud Console, enable the **Places API (New)** on a project with billing and create an API key (restrict it by this server’s IP address). 3. Go to **Desk9 Reviews Connection & Sync** and paste the API key. 4. Search for your business by name and connect it. 5. Configure the design under **Desk9 Reviews Display & Styling**. 6. Add the “Desk9 Reviews” block or the `[rdgfg_rating_display]` shortcode to any page. For reliable synchronization, configure a real server cron job to run wp-cron.php on a schedule; WordPress Cron otherwise runs only on site traffic. ## FAQ ### Do I need a Google API key? Yes. You need a Google Places API key from a Google Cloud project with billing enabled and the **Places API (New)** turned on. There is no OAuth, no Client Secret and no manual Business Profile approval to wait for. Restrict the key by your server’s IP address for security. ### How many reviews are shown? The Google Places API returns up to five of the most relevant recent reviews per business. The plugin caches and displays those. If you need _all_ of your reviews you would need the OAuth-based Business Profile API, which this plugin intentionally no longer uses. ### Does it work for any business, or only mine? Any public Google business listing works — you do not have to own or manage it, and you do not have to verify anything with Google. You just search for it by name and connect it. ### Can I hide bad reviews or edit reviews? No. The plugin shows the real reviews Google returns, exactly as they were written. You can never edit a review, rewrite it, or filter reviews by rating. The one place where you choose a single review is the Quote Spotlight layout, which by design puts one review on stage — there you decide whether that is the best, the newest, the longest, or a specific position. Every layout that shows several reviews always shows them in Google’s own order, newest first. ### Which review does the Quote Spotlight show? By default the most convincing one: the longest text among the highest-rated reviews. In the block you can switch this to the newest review, the longest, or a fixed position. Google rotates which reviews its API returns, so if a chosen position no longer exists the layout falls back to the best review instead of rendering nothing. ### Does it slow down my site? No. The frontend only reads a small local cache. All Google API calls happen on the server during setup and scheduled synchronization. ### Are reviewer profile images shown? Only if you explicitly enable them. When enabled, images may load from a Google domain when a page is viewed. ### Can I show a rating as a floating bar or badge over the page? Yes. Five layouts can be pinned to the screen instead of sitting in the content: * **Rating bar** and **Notification bar** span the full width at the top or the bottom, like a classic notification bar. * **Badge**, **Freshly reviewed** and **Sticky pill** sit in a corner — bottom left, bottom center, bottom right, or the same three at the top. Choose the placement in the block under “Placement”, or with the shortcode: ``` [rdgfg_rating_display layout="notice" float="top" dismissible="1"] [rdgfg_rating_display layout="badge" float="bottom-left" dismissible="1"] ``` Turn on “Let visitors close it” to add a small ×. A closed element stays closed for the rest of the visit. How far it sits from the screen edge, and whether a dismissal is remembered, are set once under Display & Styling. ### Can I drop the rating into the middle of a sentence? Yes. The inline layout renders as inline text, so you can paste the shortcode straight into a paragraph: ``` Over 120 guests have rated us — [rdgfg_rating_display layout="inline" size="l" show_cta="0" show_maps_link="0"] — and we are grateful for every one. size="l" spells the count out ("128 reviews"); `size="m"` shortens it to ``` “(128)” so it stays compact inside a sentence, and `size="xs"` shows only the value and one star, for use next to a button. `show_cta="0"` and show_maps_link=”0″ drop the button and the Google link, which are on by default. ### Can I show just a plain one-line rating? Yes. Choose the “Inline Text” layout — it renders “4.9 ★★★★★ 80 reviews” as plain text with star characters, so you can drop it into a sentence, a heading or a hero section. Use `[rdgfg_rating_display layout="inline"]` or pick Inline Text in the block. The `size` attribute goes from `xl` down to `xs`, where `xs` renders a single star plus the value — ideal right next to a call-to-action. ### What happens if my business has no reviews yet? Instead of an empty box or a 0.0-star badge, the plugin shows a short “no reviews yet” card with a link to write the first one. As soon as Google returns reviews, the layout you picked takes over. ### Can I change colours without touching CSS? Yes. Pick one of the five presets, or switch the preset to “Custom” to unlock every individual colour, border, radius and shadow under Display & Styling. There is deliberately no free-text CSS field — every option is a structured control, which keeps the output safe and predictable. ### Does it work with WPML or Polylang? Yes. The whole interface is translation-ready; translations come from translate. wordpress.org, and the included `.pot` template lets you add your own. The block and shortcode render dynamically, so the same latest reviews appear correctly on every language version of a page. Ratings and dates follow each language’s locale( e.g. “4.7” in English, “4,7” in German). Review text itself is shown in the language the customer wrote it — it is not machine-translated, so your real Google reviews stay authentic. ## Reviews There are no reviews for this plugin. ## Contributors & Developers “Desk9 Reviews for Google” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Desk9 Design ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/desk9/) [Translate “Desk9 Reviews for Google” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/desk9-reviews-for-google) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/desk9-reviews-for-google/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/desk9-reviews-for-google/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/desk9-reviews-for-google/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/desk9-reviews-for-google/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.0.0 * First public release. * Sixteen layouts from one render engine: inline text rating, badge, rating bar, notification bar, trust strip, divider, freshly-reviewed chip, image halo, grid, carousel, showcase, quote spotlight, card deck, sidebar widget, ticker and sticky trust pill. * Five design presets plus a Custom preset, and a light / dark / automatic colour scheme that works on any theme background. * Display & Styling page with a layout gallery and a device preview. The preview is fully live: every change — colours, sizes, content switches, slider and per- layout options — is rendered from the current form, so nothing has to be saved to see it. * The page shows only the options that do something for the layout in the preview. Every option is reachable — pick the layout that uses it in the gallery. Hidden options keep their values and still apply to the layouts that use them. * Dynamic Gutenberg block and the `[rdgfg_rating_display]` shortcode. * Friendly empty state when a connected business has no reviews yet. * Badge, Rating bar, Notification bar, Freshly reviewed and Sticky pill can be pinned to the screen as an overlay — the bars along the top or bottom edge, the compact ones in any corner — with an optional close button that remembers the dismissal for the visit. * The Google Maps link can be switched off per block and per shortcode (`show_maps_link`), not only globally. * The card deck fans its cards out and shows the position (“1 of 5”), so it is obvious that there is more than one review; the fan, the counter and the one- off intro animation can each be switched off. * All public markup passes through a single wp_kses allowlist as the last step before output. ## Meta * Version **1.0.0** * Last updated **4 days ago** * Active installations **Fewer than 10** * WordPress version ** 6.5 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.1** * PHP version ** 7.4 or higher ** * Tags * [Google Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/google-reviews/)[ratings](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/ratings/) [reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/reviews/)[star rating](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/star-rating/) [testimonials](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/testimonials/) * [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/desk9-reviews-for-google/advanced/) ## Ratings No reviews have been submitted yet. [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/desk9-reviews-for-google/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/desk9-reviews-for-google/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Desk9 Design ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/desk9/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/desk9-reviews-for-google/)