Google reviews Shopify widget: add Google reviews to your Shopify store without an app
Shopify has no built in connection to your Google Business Profile, so Google reviews reach your storefront one of two ways: an app from the Shopify App Store, or a hosted widget you paste into a Custom Liquid section as a single script tag. The embed route needs no app install and no store permissions, renders on every theme, and can show G2 and Trustpilot reviews in the same feed. ReviewJet gives you that widget, and unlike the display only apps it also runs the email and SMS campaigns that earn the reviews.
Design the widget below, then paste the code into your theme. Flat monthly price, no fee per order and no charge that climbs with how many shoppers see the page.
Live preview
Sources
Layout
Brand color
Minimum rating
No reviews match those filters
Turn a source back on or lower the minimum rating.
·
reviews shown
from Google · G2 · direct
Drops next to any CTA: signup, pricing, checkout.
Paste this once, anywhere in your HTML. The widget inherits your settings from the studio and stays in sync when you change them.
Create your account to activate your embed code.
Automated request email
From: Your Company <hello@yourcompany.com>
Subject: Quick favor? It takes 40 seconds
Hi Jordan,
You've been with us for 3 months, thanks for that. Would you share how it's going? One click below, 40 seconds, done.
Sent automatically 90 days after signup · timed to the customer's timezone
See it land in your own inbox
We'll send you this exact sequence the way your customers would receive it.
This is the same builder you use inside the app. Choose a layout and a source, and the code it produces is what goes into your Shopify theme.
First, the fork in the road
Three different things get called Google reviews on Shopify
Half the confusion in this topic comes from one phrase covering three unrelated systems. Pick the wrong one and you install a tool that cannot do the job you had in mind.
What a Google reviews widget shows
Google Business Profile reviews
The public star rating and written reviews on your business listing in Google Search and Maps. They describe your company: shipping, service, whether you answered the phone. This is the social proof a first time visitor checks before handing over a card number, and it is what a Google reviews widget puts on your storefront.
A Merchant Center program
Google Customer Reviews
An opt in program inside Google Merchant Center that emails buyers a post purchase survey and feeds your seller rating in Shopping ads and free listings. It still runs in 2026. You enable it in Merchant Center, not in your theme, and no widget can generate it for you. Store ratings live in Google, not on your page.
Judge.me, Loox, Okendo territory
Product reviews on your store
Star ratings attached to individual products, usually with buyer photos. These sit in your own store database and are the only one of the three that can still earn a star rating in Google search results, through product review snippets. Different job, different tool, and often worth running alongside the other two.
This page is about the first one. If you are here because you want stars next to your listings in Google search, a product review app is the correct purchase and we will say so plainly rather than sell you the wrong thing. If you are here because your Google listing has 180 reviews at 4.8 and none of that is visible to somebody landing on your product page, keep reading. Our guide on whether Google reviews affect SEO covers what reviews do and do not do for rankings, using Google's own documentation.
The decision
Shopify app or embedded widget: which route to take
Almost nobody searching for a Google reviews app for Shopify specifically wants an app. They want the reviews on the page. These are the two ways to get there, and where each one wins.
| Question | Shopify App Store app | Embedded widget (script tag) |
|---|---|---|
| Installation | Install from the App Store and approve the permissions it requests against your store data | Paste one line into a Custom Liquid section. Nothing installed, no store permissions granted |
| Billing | Charged through your Shopify invoice, often on a tier tied to monthly orders | Billed directly, flat, and unaffected by how many orders you process |
| Theme changes | Some apps inject blocks that survive a theme switch, others leave leftover code behind | The section moves with the template you paste it into, and the tag is one line to move |
| Placement control | Wherever the app embed block is allowed, which is not always where you want it | Any template, any section position, including under the add to cart area |
| Review sources | Google only in most Google reviews apps, so a second platform means a second app | Google, G2, Trustpilot and direct reviews in one feed, filtered per widget |
| Collecting new reviews | Display only in most cases. It shows what you already earned | Email and SMS request campaigns run on the same account that renders the widget |
| Leaving Shopify later | The display dies with the app if you replatform | The same script tag moves to the new stack unchanged |
To be fair to the app route: an App Store listing gives you Shopify billing, a review count you can read before installing, and a support channel Shopify can escalate. If those matter more to you than source coverage and flat pricing, install the app. We would rather you buy the right thing than the thing we sell. The same trade off shows up on other platforms, and our page on the Google reviews WordPress widget walks through the plugin version of exactly this choice.
Setup
How to add Google reviews to Shopify in four steps
About ten minutes end to end. No app install, no Liquid to write, and nothing that needs a developer.
01
Connect your Google Business Profile
Create a workspace and connect the profile your store trades under. Existing Google reviews import into the account and new ones keep syncing, so nobody has to refresh anything. If you also collect reviews on G2 or Trustpilot, connect them now and they join the same feed.
02
Design the widget around its placement
Layout follows position. A slider suits a homepage band between two sections, a grid suits a dedicated reviews page, and a compact rating badge suits the space beside the add to cart button where hesitation actually happens. Set a minimum rating and match the accent to your theme.
03
Copy the embed code
You get one async script tag. It injects rendered HTML rather than an iframe, so the reviews inherit your theme width and stay responsive on mobile instead of sitting in a fixed height box that scrolls on its own.
04
Paste it into a Custom Liquid section
In the Shopify admin go to Online Store, then Themes, then Customize. Choose the template you want, click Add section, pick Custom Liquid, paste the script and save. For a badge on every page, paste the same tag into theme.liquid through Edit code instead. Preview, then publish.
What the embed code looks like
<script src="https://cdn.reviewjet.com/widget.js" data-widget="rj_8f3k2" data-layout="slider" data-min-rating="4" async></script>
That is the whole install. The Custom Liquid section is part of the standard theme editor on Online Store 2.0 themes, so this is no harder than adding an image banner. On an older vintage theme there is no Custom Liquid section, and the same tag goes into theme.liquid through the code editor.
Placement
Where the widget goes in a Shopify store
Reviews work hardest next to the moment of doubt, not on a testimonials page nobody navigates to. These are the placements that pay.
Under the add to cart button
The highest value spot in the store, because it answers the question a shopper is asking at the exact second they ask it: has anyone else actually received an order from these people. Add the Custom Liquid section to the product template and it appears on every product at once.
Homepage trust band
A slider between the hero and your featured collection. Set a minimum rating of four, show six to eight reviews, and keep it above the footer. New visitors from paid traffic often decide here before they ever reach a product.
Collection pages
A compact rating badge at the top of a collection template carries your Google rating into browsing, where most sessions actually happen. It is small, it does not push products down the page, and it travels across every collection.
Cart page
Abandonment peaks at the cart. A short strip of recent reviews next to the checkout button is a cheap counterweight, and it costs you nothing more than a second Custom Liquid section on the cart template.
A dedicated reviews page
One page holding the full grid, linked from the footer and from your emails. It gives you something to point at in a support conversation and something for Google to index, which a widget on the homepage alone does not.
Sitewide footer badge
One paste into theme.liquid puts your rating on every page, including policy pages and blog posts where trust is thin. Do this once instead of editing templates individually, and it survives content changes.
One caveat worth stating: Shopify's checkout is not a place for pasted third party scripts, so plan your last trust touch for the cart page rather than checkout. Our guide to displaying reviews on your website goes deeper on layout and placement, and the ecommerce use case page covers the full flow from post purchase request to on site proof.
Honest comparison
Shopify review apps compared: what each one actually shows, and what it costs
Ratings, review counts and prices read directly from each Shopify App Store listing in July 2026. Confirm current pricing before you buy, because tiers change without notice.
| Tool | App Store rating | Price in 2026 | What it shows | Collects new reviews? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judge.me | 5.0 from 42,276 reviews | Free tier, then $15 per month flat | Product reviews on your own store, with photos and video | Yes, for product reviews on your store |
| Loox | 4.9 from 8,772 reviews | Free tier, $49.99 per month including 300 orders, then $50 per extra 300, $299.99 unlimited | Product reviews on your own store, photo first | Yes, for product reviews on your store |
| Google Reviews by Elfsight | 4.2 from 26 reviews | $5.99 per month, or $59.88 per year | Google Business Profile reviews only | No, display only |
| Trustindex Google Reviews | 4.1 from 28 reviews | Free | Google, Facebook, Yelp and more | Sends review invitations |
| EmbedSocial | Listed separately per app | About $49 per month for 6 sources, $99 for 15 | Google and many social sources | Limited, on higher tiers |
| ReviewJet | Not an App Store listing, paste a script tag | $24 per month billed yearly, $49 monthly, flat | Google, G2, Trustpilot and direct reviews in one feed | Yes, email and SMS request campaigns |
Credit where it is due
Judge.me is the most reviewed app in this category by an enormous margin, with a 5.0 rating across more than 42,000 App Store reviews, a genuinely usable free tier and a $15 flat paid plan. If what you need is product reviews with photos on your product pages, install it and stop shopping. It is a different tool from ours, aimed at a different question, and it is very good at the question it answers.
Where the Google display apps run out
The Google specific apps are shop windows. They show the reviews you already earned and do nothing about the reason most stores have too few: nobody asks, consistently, at the right moment. ReviewJet runs the ask too. Automated review request campaigns fire on a trigger you choose, by email or SMS, and the reviews they produce land in the same widget on your storefront. One subscription instead of two.
Note on order based pricing: several review apps bill by monthly order volume, so the tool gets more expensive precisely as the store succeeds. Loox, for example, moves from a free tier to $49.99 per month at 300 orders and charges for additional order blocks beyond that. ReviewJet plans are limited by review requests sent, never by orders processed or by how many shoppers view the widget.
Straight answers
Two claims in this category that do not survive checking
"Show Google reviews and get stars in Google search"
Not from an embedded Google reviews widget. Google removed review rich results for self serving reviews on 16 September 2019, and its announcement names embedded third party review widgets as an example of what no longer qualifies. Product review snippets on product pages remain eligible, which is why a product review app can still earn stars and a Google reviews widget cannot.
What the widget does earn is more mundane and more valuable: shoppers who see proof at the point of hesitation buy more often. Treat it as conversion work, not as a search trick, and you will judge it correctly.
"Automatically collect only your positive reviews"
Several review tools in and around the Shopify ecosystem advertise a flow that surveys customers first and only sends the happy ones to Google. That is review gating, and Google's Maps user generated content policy prohibits it directly: merchants may not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers."
Asking every customer is allowed and encouraged. Sorting them by predicted sentiment first is not. We built request campaigns to ask everyone, because a filtered 5.0 is worth less to a shopper than an honest 4.7, and because the downside is your listing. The full rules, Google's and the FTC's, are in our guide to what review gating is and what the rules actually say.
Who it suits
Which stores should take the embed route
Stores that also sell off Shopify
A retail location, a wholesale site, a Webflow landing page for paid traffic. One widget account covers all of them, and the same tag pastes into each. App Store apps stop at the boundary of the store they are installed on.
Brands with reviews on more than one platform
If your proof is split between Google and Trustpilot, a Google only app shows half your case. Aggregating them into one widget means a shopper sees 240 reviews instead of two thin profiles of 120 each. Our page on the reviews aggregator covers how that merge works.
Anyone with fewer reviews than they should have
If the real problem is a listing with eleven reviews, no display tool will fix it. You need the ask running automatically after fulfilment, which is what a collection tool does and a widget alone does not.
Stores watching app bloat and page speed
Every app you install adds scripts, styles and permissions. One async tag in a Custom Liquid section is the smallest possible footprint for getting Google reviews onto the storefront.
And who should not: if you sell one product line, all your proof is per product, and stars in Google search are the goal, buy a product review app instead. That is not our category and we are not going to pretend it is. If you want the broader view of layouts and platforms first, the review widget pillar page covers every stack, and the Google reviews widget page goes deep on the Google specific version.
FAQ
Questions people ask about Google reviews on Shopify
Connect your Google Business Profile to a review widget tool, design the layout, copy the embed code, then open Online Store, Themes, Customize in your Shopify admin, click Add section, choose Custom Liquid and paste the code in. Save and the reviews render on the storefront. The job takes about ten minutes and does not require an app install or theme development.
Yes. Shopify has no native connection to Google Business Profile reviews, so you add them either with an app from the Shopify App Store or with a hosted widget you paste into your theme as a script tag. Both display the same reviews. The embed route avoids an app install, works on every theme, and keeps working if you move off Shopify later.
Several. Google Reviews by Elfsight is $5.99 per month, and Trustindex publishes a free Google reviews app. Both are display tools: they show the reviews you already have and do nothing to earn more. ReviewJet is not an App Store listing, it is a script tag you paste into a Custom Liquid section, and it also runs the email and SMS campaigns that produce the review in the first place.
Google Customer Reviews is a Merchant Center program that emails buyers a post purchase survey and feeds your seller rating in Shopping ads and free listings. Google Business Profile reviews are the public star rating people leave on your business listing in Search and Maps. A reviews widget displays the second kind. You opt into the first inside Merchant Center, and no widget can create it for you.
Not any more. Shopify delisted its own free Product Reviews app in September 2023 and removed it on 6 May 2024, telling merchants to export their reviews and move to a third party app. Since then every review feature on a Shopify store, product reviews and Google reviews alike, comes from an app or an embedded widget.
Open the product template in the theme editor rather than the homepage, click Add section, choose Custom Liquid and paste the widget code where you want it, usually directly under the add to cart area. Because it lives in the product template it appears on every product without you editing them one at a time.
No. Google stopped showing review rich results for self serving reviews on 16 September 2019 and the announcement names embedded third party review widgets specifically. Product review snippets on individual product pages are still eligible, which is a job for a product review app, not a Google reviews widget. Any app promising stars in search from your embedded Google reviews is selling something Google removed years ago.
They answer different questions, so plenty of stores run both. A product review app collects reviews of individual products and can earn product star ratings in search. A Google reviews widget shows what people say about your business as a whole, which is what a first time buyer checks before trusting a store they have never ordered from. If you can only fund one, choose by which doubt costs you more sales.
There are free tiers, and they carry the usual limits: vendor branding on the widget, a small number of reviews, one layout, or a cap on monthly widget views that a growing store hits quickly. The bigger gap is that free display tools do not ask customers for reviews, so you end up paying for a second tool to do the part that actually moves your rating.
An async script tag fetches after your storefront has rendered, so it does not block content or add work to Shopify server response time. Place it below the fold where you can, keep the number of reviews shown sensible, and avoid stacking three review apps that each load their own CSS and JavaScript on every page.
Yes. ReviewJet aggregates Google, G2, Trustpilot and direct reviews into one feed, so a single widget can show them together or filter to one source. Most Google reviews apps for Shopify are Google only, which means a second app and a second layout as soon as you add a review platform.
No. The Custom Liquid section is part of the standard theme editor on Online Store 2.0 themes, so pasting the widget is about as hard as adding an image banner. Older vintage themes have no Custom Liquid section, and there the same tag goes into theme.liquid through Edit code, which is one file and one line.
Ask every buyer, automatically, a few days after delivery rather than at the moment of shipping. Send a short email or SMS with a direct Google review link so nobody has to search for your listing, and ask all of them rather than screening for happy ones first. Our guide to the Google review link covers how to build that link and the QR code version for packaging inserts.
Keep going
Related pages
Review widget
The pillar page: layouts, platforms and setup for every stack.
Google reviews widget
The Google specific widget, in depth.
Google reviews on WordPress
The same choice, plugin versus embed.
Reviews aggregator
Merge Google, G2 and Trustpilot into one feed.
Review generation software
Automated email and SMS requests that earn the reviews.
Ecommerce use case
The full loop from fulfilment to on site proof.
Review gating
What Google and the FTC actually prohibit.
Pricing
Starter, Plus and Pro, with what is in each.
Put your reviews to work
Automated requests, one widget for every source, live on your site this afternoon.
From $24/mo, billed yearly. No per-review fees.