Everything you'd want to know before you install.
A detailed look at how Google Reviews Carousel for WordPress works, why we built it the way we did, and the thinking behind the features above.
§ 01
Connected to Google in a few minutes
Open Reviews Carousel in the admin menu, paste your Google API key, type your business name and city and choose it in the results: the Place ID is filled in for you. The Test the connection button checks the values before you save and explains Google errors in plain words (key refused, API not enabled, billing, key restricted to websites, quota). A step-by-step guide explains how to create and restrict the key. Until you are ready, demo reviews let you try every layout; only logged-in editors see them.
§ 02
Four layouts, designed with a live preview
Choose a carousel, a grid, a list or a compact badge, and optionally a floating badge in a corner of the site. Pick a light, dark or automatic theme, a card style, your accent colour and the number of cards side by side: the live preview shows the result instantly in desktop, tablet or mobile width. The layout adapts to the space it gets, so the same block works in a full-width section, a column or a sidebar.
§ 03
Fast pages and a reliable cache
Reviews are downloaded by your server and kept in a cache from 1 hour to 7 days. When the copy expires, it keeps being shown while a fresh one is downloaded in the background, so visitors never wait for Google. After a Google error, the plugin waits before asking again instead of calling the API on every page view. Styles and script are loaded only where reviews are displayed, including patterns, template parts and widgets.
§ 04
Accessible, privacy friendly and secure
The carousel follows the WAI-ARIA carousel pattern: labelled slides, pause button, rotation stopped on hover and keyboard focus, keyboard arrows and respect of the reduced motion setting. No cookie is set. With initials as author pictures (default), the visitor's browser makes no request to Google. The API key stays on the server, is sent in a request header and never appears in your pages.
§ 05
Multilingual reviews and moderation
On a multilingual site, each language of the page gets its own copy of the reviews, translated by Google or in their original language. Filter by minimum rating, keep only reviews with a text, choose the order and hide any review in one click: filters apply instantly, without a new Google request. Upgrading from version 1.x is automatic: settings are imported and [google_reviews] shortcodes keep working.
Very easy installation!Automatically translated