Shopify · 5 min read
How to add Google reviews to Shopify
Every Online Store 2.0 theme includes a Custom Liquid section, which accepts any HTML you paste into it. That is all you need to put your live Google reviews on the storefront — no app, no monthly fee, no extra app scripts on every page.
Last reviewed by the Reviews Widget product team.
Why no app is the better default
Shopify apps are the usual answer and often the wrong one for this job. An app adds a recurring fee, its own scripts on every page load, and a dependency you have to migrate if you change themes. A Custom Liquid section adds one line and nothing else.
| Reviews app | Custom Liquid embed | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Usually recurring | Free plan available |
| Scripts added to your store | App scripts plus app-embed blocks | One async script |
| Theme change | Often needs reinstalling or re-blocking | Repaste one line |
| Sources shown | Usually one platform | 17 platforms — Google, Trustpilot, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook, Booking.com, Airbnb, Amazon, ProductReview.com.au, G2, Etsy |
| Design control | App's settings | Full layout and token control |
Step-by-step in the Shopify theme editor
Skip the reading — build your widget now
Free plan, no credit card. Your reviews are embedded before you finish this guide.
Build the widget, copy the script tag, open Online Store then Themes then Customize, add a Custom Liquid section on the template you want, paste, save, then check the live storefront rather than the theme editor preview.
- 1
Create your free Reviews Widget
Sign up, search your business name to attach your Google Business Profile, and let the first fetch pull in your reviews and aggregate rating.
- 2
Style the widget to your theme
Choose grid, masonry, list, carousel, a scrolling marquee, review popups or a floating star badge, then match your Shopify theme's colours, corner radius and font scale in the live preview.
- 3
Copy the embed snippet
Open the Embed tab and copy the one-line script tag.
- 4
Open the Shopify theme editor
In your Shopify admin go to Online Store, then Themes, then Customize on your live theme. Navigate to the page template where the reviews belong.
- 5
Add a Custom Liquid section
Click Add section, choose Custom Liquid, and drag it into position — usually below the featured collection on the homepage, or beneath the product description on a product template.
- 6
Paste the snippet and save
Paste the script tag into the Custom Liquid field and click Save. The theme editor preview may not run the script.
- 7
View the live store and verify
Open your storefront in a normal browser tab and confirm the reviews render, then run the URL through Google's Rich Results Test to see the JSON-LD parse.
Where to place reviews in a store
| Template | Placement | Objection it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | Grid below the featured collection | Is this a real business? |
| Collection | Floating star badge | Reassurance while browsing |
| Product | Compact list under the description | Will this arrive as described? |
| Cart | Slim carousel above checkout | Last-second abandonment |
| About or contact | Grid with a write-a-review button | Turns buyers into reviewers |
Store reviews vs product reviews
This widget shows store-level reviews — what customers say about your business on Google, Trustpilot, Yelp, Facebook or TripAdvisor — and it can also pull marketplace product reviews from Amazon, Etsy and ProductReview.com.au into the same embed. Product reviews collected on your own product pages answer a different question, and most stores need merchant trust established first.
The distinction matters for search too: product star ratings in Google require per-product Product structured data fed by product reviews, which store-level reviews cannot supply. More detail on social proof for ecommerce.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing renders in the theme editor | The editor preview does not run the script | Check the live storefront URL |
| Custom Liquid section not available | Theme is Online Store 1.0 | Upgrade the theme, or paste into a template file |
| Reviews missing on one template only | Section added to a single template | Add the section to each template you need |
| Section renders below everything else | Section order in the editor | Drag the section into position and save |
| Widget clipped inside a section | Theme section has a fixed height | Remove the height constraint |
| Old styling after a redesign | Storefront or CDN cache | Hard-refresh, then recheck in a clean profile |
Sources & further reading
- Shopify — Custom Liquid section — Official documentation for the section that accepts the snippet
- Shopify — Online Store 2.0 themes — Which themes support sections on every template
- Google Search Central — Product structured data — What per-product review stars actually require