Plugins / Desk9 Reviews for Google / Documentation

Desk9 Reviews for Google

Applies to v1.0.0, Free and Pro. Updated Sep 7, 2026. 15 min read

This manual covers the free plugin from wordpress.org and the Pro plugin from desk9design.com: getting a Google Places API key, connecting one or many locations, the block and the shortcode with every attribute, the seventeen layouts, design, synchronization, licensing and updates. Pro-only parts are marked.

1. Overview

Desk9 Reviews for Google shows the latest real Google reviews of a business on your WordPress site. It reads them from the Google Places API (New) with an API key. There is no OAuth flow and no Google verification. Reviews are cached on your server and rendered by a block or a shortcode in one of seventeen layouts.

The free edition handles one business listing. The Pro edition handles as many locations as you need and adds a combined rating and a Locations Overview layout. Pro replaces Free: it uses the same data, deactivates the free plugin on activation and keeps your key, business, design and cached reviews.

	Free	Pro
Business listings	1	unlimited
Layouts	16	17 (adds Locations Overview)
Location per block or shortcode	no	location="<id>"
Combined rating across locations	no	location="all"
Admin page for connections	Connection & Sync	Connection & Locations
Design, block, shortcode, sync	identical	identical
Updates	wordpress.org	desk9design.com license (see section 11)

2. Requirements

WordPress	6.5 or newer (tested up to 7.1)
PHP	7.4 or newer
Google Cloud	a project with billing enabled and the “Places API (New)” enabled
API key	restricted by IP address, not by HTTP referrer
Theme	none; works with any theme, block or classic

Note: Google bills the Places API per request. Every connected location is one request per sync. The plugin never calls Google from the public front end, and a cached response is not fetched again.

3. Get a Google Places API key

The key belongs to a Google Cloud project. Server requests carry no HTTP referrer, so a referrer-restricted key rejects every request from your site. Restrict the key by your server’s IP address instead.

4. Connect your business or your locations

Open Desk9 Reviews > Connection & Locations (Free: Desk9 Reviews > Connection & Sync). The page shows four steps at the top: Prepare Google Cloud, Enter API key, Find your business, Synchronize reviews. Each step turns done as you go.

Pro shows a Connected locations table with one row per listing: Location, Rating, Cached (number of cached reviews), Last sync, Status, the shortcode snippet with its location="<id>" attribute, and the actions Sync now and Remove. Below the table: Sync all locations now, Delete cached reviews (they are fetched again on the next sync) and Remove all locations (keeps the API key).

The Diagnostics panel at the bottom lists plugin, WordPress and PHP versions, whether a key is configured, the next quick and full sync, the last HTTP status from Google and the recent sync events. Check it first when something looks wrong.

Warning: removing a location deletes its cached reviews. Blocks and shortcodes that reference its id render nothing for visitors. Administrators see a hint instead.

5. Show reviews: the block

Add the Desk9 Reviews block (category Widgets) to any page, post or widget area. The editor preview uses the same render engine and stylesheet as the public page.

The block sidebar has these controls:

Control	What it does
Layout	one of the seventeen layouts, grouped as Rating, Reviews and Locations
Location	Pro: Default location, each connected location by name, or All locations (combined). The dropdown appears once two or more locations could be chosen.
Reviews	1 to 5, for grid, carousel, showcase, card deck, sidebar widget and ticker
Columns	1 to 3, for grid and overview
Density	XS to XL, inline text rating only
Direction	vertical or horizontal, badge only
Which review	best, newest, longest text or a fixed position, quote spotlight only
Placement	In the page, or a pinned position, for bar, notification bar, badge, freshly-reviewed chip and sticky pill
Use global settings	on by default. Switch it off to override summary, “Write a review” button, Maps link, avatars, dates, CTA card and text lines for this block only.
Content	left, center or right alignment

Controls that do not apply to the chosen layout are hidden. A block without a location shows the default location, so a one-location site never needs the dropdown.

6. Show reviews: the shortcode

The shortcode is [rdgfg_rating_display]. It shares the render engine with the block. Every attribute you leave out follows the global Display & Styling settings. Boolean attributes take true or false; an empty value means “use the global setting”.

Attribute	Values	Default
layout	inline, badge, bar, notice, strip, divider, chip, halo, grid, carousel, showcase, quote, deck, widget, ticker, pill, overview	grid
location	a location id, all, or empty	empty = default location
reviews	1 to 5 (grid, carousel, showcase, deck, widget, ticker)	3
columns	1 to 3 (grid, overview)	global
size	xs, s, m, l, xl (inline)	global
variant	vertical, horizontal (badge)	global
pick	best, newest, longest, 1 to 5 (quote)	global
float	none; top, bottom (bar, notice); top-left, top-center, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-center, bottom-right (badge, chip, pill)	none, pill: bottom-right
dismissible	true, false (pinned layouts get a close button)	global
show_summary	true, false	global
show_cta	true, false (“Write a review” button)	global
show_maps_link	true, false	global
show_avatars	true, false	global
show_date	true, false	global
cta_card	true, false (a call-to-action card among the reviews)	global
text_lines	1 to 30 (visible lines of review text)	global
align	left, center, right	left
image	attachment id (showcase, quote, halo)	none
class	extra CSS classes for the root element	none

Examples you can paste:

[rdgfg_rating_display]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="inline" size="s"]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="bar" float="top" dismissible="true"]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="grid" reviews="3" columns="3" location="berlin-mitte"]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="quote" pick="newest" location="hamburg"]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="badge" variant="horizontal" location="all"]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="overview" columns="3"]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="pill" float="bottom-left" show_cta="false"]

The first line shows the default location in the grid layout with the global settings. Line four shows one location by id; you find the id in the shortcode column of the locations table. Line six is the combined rating across every location. Line seven is the Pro-only Locations Overview.

Note: an unknown or removed location id renders nothing for visitors. Logged-in administrators see a hint in its place, so check the page while logged in if a block seems to be missing.

7. Layouts

Summary layouts show the average rating, stars and review count. Review layouts show individual comments. Every layout is available in the block and in the shortcode.

Summary layouts

inline	Inline text rating. A single line such as “4.9 stars, 80 reviews” that flows inside a sentence, a heading or a button row. Five density steps from xs to xl.
badge	Rating badge. A compact trust block, vertical or horizontal. Can be pinned to a corner.
bar	Rating bar. A horizontal bar with an optional “Write a review” button. Can be pinned to the top or bottom edge.
notice	Notification bar. A slim single-line strip for headers. Can be pinned to the top or bottom edge.
strip	Trust strip. Overlapping reviewer initials next to the rating.
divider	Rating divider. The rating as a section separator between two rules.
chip	Freshly reviewed. A chip that says how recently the last review came in. Can be pinned to a corner.
halo	Image halo. The rating as a pill over one of your own images (attribute image).

Review layouts

grid	Review grid. Responsive cards, one to three columns.
carousel	Review carousel. Summary plus a slider of cards.
showcase	Review showcase. A split summary and slider for home pages.
quote	Quote spotlight. One review as a large quotation, picked by rule.
deck	Card deck. Stacked cards you click through.
widget	Sidebar widget. A narrow vertical list for sidebars and footers.
ticker	Review ticker. Short quotes running as a band.
pill	Sticky trust pill. A corner badge that opens a panel with the reviews. Starts pinned bottom-right.

Pro layout

overview

Locations Overview. One summary card per connected location with stars, count and links, plus the combined rating. Pro only.

Grid, carousel, showcase, deck, ticker, pill and every pinned layout load the plugin’s small front-end script. The other layouts are CSS only. There is no jQuery, no external font, no cookie and no tracking in any layout.

8. Design & styling

Open Desk9 Reviews > Display & Styling. One global design applies to every block and shortcode. The layout is chosen per placement. Nothing is saved until you press Save design.

Group	Options
Preview layout	pick any layout and switch between Desktop, Tablet and Mobile. Options that do not affect the previewed layout are hidden.
Preset	Inherit theme (no card), Clean (thin border), Soft (rounded, shadowed), Outline (strong border), Dark (always dark), Custom (your own colors)
Color scheme	Light, Dark, or Follow the visitor’s system setting
Colors	star, empty star, focus ring and accent dot always apply. Card, block, text, border, initials and button colors need the Custom preset.
Cards	border width, corner radius, card padding, gap between cards, shadow and hover shadow (Custom preset), equal card height
Stars	star size, star spacing, show partial last star
Typography	sizes for rating value, review text, author name and metadata, line height, weights. The font family always comes from your theme.
Authors	show an initials circle, or reviewer images instead (see Privacy), image size, round images
Review content	summary, “Write a review” button, Maps link, dates, CTA card, visible text lines

9. Synchronization & caching

Every connected location gets a quick sync every hour and a full sync once a day. Sync now in the locations table runs a full sync for one location; Sync all locations now runs it for every location. Each location syncs with its own request, so a failing location never stops the others.

What is cached: a snapshot of the business (name, rating, review count, Maps link) and up to five reviews (author display name, rating, text, dates). Google returns at most five reviews per business, sorted by relevance; the plugin sorts them by their original publish time, newest first.

A failed sync never deletes cached reviews. If no sync succeeds for 3 days, the cached reviews count as stale and are hidden from visitors until the next successful sync. Administrators see a notice in the block’s place. A business that simply has no reviews yet is not stale: it shows a short “no reviews yet” card with a link to write the first one.

Note: WordPress cron runs on site traffic. For reliable timing, point a real server cron at wp-cron.php every 15 minutes and add define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true ); to wp-config.php.

Not available by design: owner replies, the star distribution, and “all reviews”. The Places API does not return them. They would need the OAuth-based Business Profile API, which this plugin deliberately does not use.

10. Multiple locations (Pro)

Each connected listing gets a short, stable id derived from its name, for example cafe-sonnenrad. If a name collides, the next one becomes cafe-sonnenrad-2. Ids never change, so your shortcodes keep working.

Default location	the first location in the table. Blocks and shortcodes without a location show it.
One location	location="<id>" on the shortcode, or the Location dropdown in the block. Any of the sixteen layouts works per location.
All locations	location="all". A weighted average rating and the summed review count across every location. Review layouts merge the reviews of all locations, newest first. No Maps link and no “Write a review” button, because there is no single listing.
Locations Overview	layout="overview". One summary card per location with stars, count and links, the combined rating on top, one to three columns.
Removing a location	Remove in its row. Its cached reviews are deleted. Placements that used its id render nothing for visitors.

A typical setup: the combined badge in the footer of every page, the location’s own grid on each branch page, and the Locations Overview on the contact page.

[rdgfg_rating_display layout="badge" location="all"]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="grid" location="cafe-sonnenrad" reviews="3"]
[rdgfg_rating_display layout="overview" columns="3"]

11. License & updates (desk9design.com edition)

The Pro plugin from desk9design.com receives updates inside WordPress through your license key. Without an active license the plugin keeps working with every feature. Only automatic updates in the WordPress dashboard are unavailable.

Status	Meaning
Active	this site receives updates
Expired	the subscription ran out. The plugin keeps working; updates stop until you renew.
Not activated on this site	a key is stored but not activated here. Click Re-activate.
No license key	no key stored on this site

Deactivate on this site frees the site slot and keeps the key stored, so you can re-activate later. Remove key deletes the key from this site; you can enter it again at any time.

With an active license, updates appear under Dashboard > Updates like any other plugin, with the same one-click update. Update checks against desk9design.com run once every 12 hours and when you activate or deactivate. A just-published release can take up to that long to appear; “Check again” on the Updates screen forces it immediately.

Note: an update check sends the product slug, your license key, this site’s address and the installed plugin version to desk9design.com. No visitor data is transmitted.

12. Upgrading from the free version

Warning: do not run both plugins at the same time. While the free plugin is active, Pro stays dormant and shows a notice.

13. Staging and moving sites

Development environments never count against your site limit. Anything on localhost, a .test, .local or .dev domain, or a subdomain starting with staging. or dev. activates as a free slot: same key, full functionality.

Licenses are not locked to a domain forever. Open your account, deactivate the old site next to the subscription, then activate the key on the new site as usual. On the old site you can also click Deactivate on this site under Tools. This takes under a minute and never requires a support ticket. Site swaps do not change your renewal date.

When you move the whole database (migration plugin, hosting move), the locations, cached reviews and design move with it. Only the API key restriction needs attention: add the new server’s IP address to the key in the Google Cloud Console, then run Sync all locations now.

14. Privacy & external services

The plugin connects to one external service: Google’s Places API (New). It does so during setup, when you search for a business, and during synchronization on the server. The public front end never contacts Google.

By default no visitor data leaves your site. Reviewer images are off by default: if you enable Show reviewer images instead under Display & Styling, the images load from a Google domain and expose your visitors’ IP address to Google. The initials circle is served from your own site.

Stored data: your API key, one business snapshot and the cached reviews per location (author display name, rating, text, dates), sync state and logs, and on the desk9design.com edition the license data. The plugin registers suggested privacy-policy text under Settings > Privacy. Google’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy apply to the review data.

No cookies, no analytics, no external fonts, no telemetry. The pinned layouts remember a dismissed bar or pill in the visitor’s browser storage only.

15. Troubleshooting & FAQ

16. Uninstall

Before uninstalling the Pro plugin, click Deactivate on this site under Desk9 Reviews > Tools so the site slot frees up for another site. Deactivating or deleting the plugin keeps your settings, key and cache in the database.

For a full cleanup, enable Delete all plugin data when the plugin is uninstalled under Tools, click Save, then delete the plugin. This removes settings, the API key, all locations, cached reviews, logs, license data and scheduled tasks. The switch is off by default.

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.