Display your Google Business reviews on your site — alongside product reviews, site reviews, and testimonials.

Trustie Pro gives you two routes to connect Google, and you pick the one that suits your business. You can switch between them at any time.

—

Which route should I pick?

Start with Quick setup if:

• You just want Google reviews showing on your site with minimum fuss
• You don’t own the Google Business Profile (e.g. you manage the site for a client whose Google account you don’t have access to)
• You’re happy with 5 reviews on-site and a “See more on Google” link for the rest

Upgrade to Full access if:

• You have lots of Google reviews and want them all on your site (not just 5)
• You own the Google Business Profile and have admin access to a Google Cloud project
• You can tolerate a one-off setup that takes a bit longer

Both routes land reviews in the same place — the floating widget, your reviews page, and the [trustie_google_reviews] shortcode. Visitors can’t tell which route you used; it’s purely a setup decision.

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The settings page

Go to Trustie > Settings > Google. You’ll see two cards side by side:

• Quick setup (left) — for the Places API route
• Full access (right) — for the OAuth route

The active route is highlighted. Only one is active at a time — connecting Full access automatically supersedes Quick setup for display. Your Quick setup credentials remain saved if you ever want to switch back.

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Route 1: Quick setup (Places API)

The simplest way to get Google reviews on your site.

What you’ll need

1. A Google Places API key — Trustie uses this to fetch reviews from Google
2. Your Google Place ID — tells Google which business to fetch reviews for

Both are free to set up. The Places API has a generous free tier; you won’t typically see charges for review fetching.

Step 1: Get a Google Places API key

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project (or select an existing one)
3. Navigate to APIs & Services > Library
4. Search for Places API and click Enable
5. Go to APIs & Services > Credentials
6. Click Create Credentials > API Key
7. Copy the API key

Restrict the key (recommended)

To prevent misuse if the key leaks:

1. Click the key you just created
2. Under Application restrictions, choose HTTP referrers and add your website domain (e.g. yourstore.com.au/*)
3. Under API restrictions, select Restrict key and choose Places API only
4. Save

The key will now only work from your domain, and only for the Places API.

Step 2: Find your Google Place ID

1. Go to Google’s Place ID Finder
2. Search for your business name and location on the map
3. Click your business in the results
4. Copy the Place ID — it looks like ChIJN1t_tDeuEmsRUsoyG83frY4

Alternatively, search your business on Google Maps; the Place ID is often embedded in the URL.

Step 3: Configure in Trustie

1. Go to Trustie > Settings > Google
2. On the Quick setup card, tick Enable: Fetch and display Google reviews via Places API
3. Enter your Places API key
4. Enter your Place ID
5. Click Test Connection to confirm the credentials work
6. Save

Trustie fetches your reviews within a minute and caches them for 24 hours. You can verify by checking the floating widget or visiting a page with [trustie_google_reviews].

About the 5-review limit

The Places API caps every integrator at 5 reviews — this is a Google-imposed rule, not a Trustie limit. Your aggregate rating and total review count reflect all your Google reviews; only the individual review display is capped.

When there are more reviews than the 5 shown, Trustie adds a “See X more reviews on Google” button linking directly to your Google listing. This is actually a small SEO win — link-outs to your Google listing signal engagement back to Google’s algorithm.

If you need all reviews on-site, that’s Full access — keep reading.

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Route 2: Full access (OAuth / Business Profile API)

Pulls every one of your Google reviews into Trustie and stores them locally so they display alongside your product reviews, site reviews, and testimonials — with no 5-review cap.

What you’ll need

1. A Google account that owns the Business Profile (or has Manager / Owner permissions on it). You’ll sign in with this account.
2. A Google Cloud project where you can enable APIs and create OAuth credentials. (Same one you used for Quick setup is fine.)
3. Business Profile API access approval from Google. This is the slow part — see Step 2.
4. About 10 minutes for the setup steps, one time.

Step 1: Create or select a Google Cloud project

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console
2. Use the project dropdown at the top; create a new project (e.g. “Trustie for YourStore”) or pick an existing one

> Why a project? Google Cloud uses “projects” to group APIs, credentials, and billing. Each Trustie installation needs one project with the right APIs enabled and credentials issued.

Step 2: Enable the Business Profile API (and apply for access)

Google gates access to the Business Profile API — you have to explicitly request permission to use it.

1. In your project, go to APIs & Services > Library
2. Search for My Business Account Management API and enable it
3. Search for My Business Business Information API and enable it
4. Search for Business Profile API (you may see it listed as “Google My Business API”) — click it
5. You’ll likely see a notice that access is gated. Click Request access or follow the link to the Business Profile API request form
6. Complete the application. Google wants to know:

– Your business name, website, and Google Cloud project number
– What you’re building (describe Trustie as a review management tool for WordPress site owners who want to display and respond to their own Business Profile reviews on their site)
– Your contact email

This approval takes anywhere from a few days to several weeks. Google sometimes rejects applications — if that happens, the rejection email explains why, and you can reply to appeal. Most legitimate business-owner requests are approved; the process just takes patience.

You can do Steps 3–6 below while you wait for approval. The OAuth flow itself will work; the final review fetch will just error until approval comes through.

Step 3: Configure the OAuth consent screen

Google asks you to describe your app before users can sign in to it.

1. In your project, go to APIs & Services > OAuth consent screen
2. Choose External user type, click Create
3. Fill in the required fields:

– App name: something like “Trustie for yoursite.com”
– User support email: your email
– App logo (optional but recommended — your site logo)
– Application home page: your site URL
– Developer contact information: your email

1. Save and continue
2. On the Scopes page, click Add or remove scopes, filter for “business”, and add:

   https://www.googleapis.com/auth/business.manage
   ``
   Save.
On the Test users page, add the Google account you'll use to sign in (the one that owns your Business Profile). You can leave the app in Testing mode — you don't need to publish it.
Save and continue through the rest.

> Why External and not Internal? Internal is only for Google Workspace accounts inside an organisation. External with Testing mode + yourself as a test user is the correct configuration for a single-site install.

Step 4: Create OAuth 2.0 credentials

Go to APIs & Services > Credentials
Click Create Credentials > OAuth client ID
Application type: Web application
Name: something like "Trustie WordPress"
Under Authorized redirect URIs, click Add URI and paste:

   `
   https://YOURSITE.com/wp-admin/admin-post.php?action=tracksies_google_callback
   `

   Replace YOURSITE.com with your actual domain. The path must be exactly /wp-admin/admin-post.php?action=tracksies_google_callback — this is where Google sends users back after they sign in.

Click Create
A popup shows your Client ID and Client secret. Copy both — you'll paste them into Trustie next.

> Keep the secret actually secret. The Client ID is safe to expose (it's in the URL during OAuth anyway), but the Client secret authenticates your app to Google's token exchange. Trustie stores it only on your server in WordPress options — it never leaves.

Step 5: Enter credentials in Trustie

Go to Trustie > Settings > Google
On the Full access card, paste your OAuth Client ID and OAuth Client Secret
Save

Step 6: Connect your Google account

Still on the Full access card, click Sign in with Google
You're redirected to Google's standard sign-in screen
Sign in with the Google account that owns your Business Profile
Google shows a consent screen listing the business.manage permission — click Allow

You're redirected back to Trustie with a green "Google account connected" banner

Step 7: Pick your location

After connecting, Trustie fetches the list of Google accounts and business locations you have access to.

Pick the account (usually just your own)
Pick the location (the specific Business Profile whose reviews you want)
Click Save location

Trustie immediately runs a sync — you should see your reviews land within a minute or two. The Status panel on the Full access card shows you what's happening (reviews synced to DB, last sync time, any errors).

Step 8: Daily auto-sync

From now on, Trustie runs a daily cron job (trustie_google_daily_sync) that fetches any new reviews and adds them to your database. You can force a manual refresh anytime via the Sync now button on the settings page.

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Where Google reviews appear

Regardless of which route you picked:

Floating widget — a dedicated "Google" tab appears automatically when Google Reviews is configured. Each Google review shows the reviewer's name, rating, text, and a Google "G" icon so visitors know where it came from.

Reviews page — if you're using [trustie_reviews_page] for a dedicated reviews page, Google reviews appear in the tabbed interface alongside your other review types.

Shortcode — use [trustie_google_reviews] anywhere on your site:

[trustie_google_reviews]
`

This renders your Google business name, overall rating, individual reviews, and a "View on Google" link. It also outputs LocalBusiness and AggregateRating JSON-LD schema markup, which Google can use for rich results in search.

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How sync & caching work

Quick setup (Places API):

• Trustie fetches reviews on first use and caches them for 24 hours (or whatever you set Cache Duration to)
• Subsequent page loads serve the cached version instantly — no API call per visitor
• Force a refresh by clicking Refresh Google Reviews in Settings > Google

Full access (OAuth):

• Reviews are stored in your WordPress database (as comments with the type trustie_google) — not just cached
• A daily cron fetches only new or updated reviews (incremental sync, fast)
• Force a refresh with the Sync now button on the Full access card
• If you ever disconnect Google, your synced reviews stay in the database until you choose to remove them

---

Common questions

Is the Google Places API free?
Google's free tier includes thousands of API calls per month — more than enough for review fetching. A single page load uses one API call, and Trustie caches for 24 hours, so even a busy site makes only a few calls per day. Check Google's pricing page for current details.

Is the Business Profile API free?
Yes — no usage charges, but the API is quota-limited and Google must approve your access first (see Step 2 of Full access).

Why do I only see 5 Google reviews with Quick setup?
Places API caps every integrator at 5 reviews. Your aggregate rating and total review count still reflect all your reviews; only the individual review display is capped. The "See more on Google" button links visitors to your full Google listing. If you need all reviews on-site, switch to Full access.

Can I reply to Google reviews from Trustie?
Not yet. Currently, Google reviews in Trustie are read-only. To reply, use your Google Business Profile directly. Reply support is on the roadmap.

Do Google reviews affect my Trustie star rating?
No — Google reviews display separately. They have their own aggregate rating shown in the Google tab/section, and don't mix with your Trustie product or site review averages.

What happens if my API key stops working?
Trustie keeps displaying the last cached version of your reviews. New reviews won't sync until the key is fixed. Check the Google Cloud Console for quota or billing issues.

What happens if I revoke the OAuth connection?
Your already-synced reviews stay in the database and keep displaying. New reviews stop flowing until you reconnect. You can reconnect any time from Trustie > Settings > Google.

Can I switch from Quick setup to Full access (or back)?
Yes — both sets of credentials stay saved. Connecting Full access takes priority for display (all reviews, not 5). Disconnecting Full access falls back to Quick setup if it's enabled.

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If something's not working

Quick setup route

No Google reviews appearing:

• Verify your API key and Place ID are entered correctly in Trustie > Settings > Google
• Check that Places API is enabled in your Google Cloud Console project
• Make sure your API key's HTTP referrer restriction allows your domain
• Click Refresh Google Reviews to force a fresh fetch

"API key invalid" error:

• Double-check the key in the Google Cloud Console — make sure you copied it completely
• Verify the Places API is enabled on the same project as your API key
• Check that your API key's HTTP referrer restriction includes your site's domain

Reviews showing but outdated:

• Check the Cache Duration setting — reviews refresh based on this schedule
• Click Refresh Google Reviews to fetch the latest data immediately

Wrong business showing:

• Your Place ID might be pointing to the wrong location. Use the Place ID Finder again to verify you have the correct ID for your specific business.

Full access (OAuth) route

"redirect_uri_mismatch" error during sign-in:

• The redirect URI in your Google Cloud Console OAuth credential must match exactly — including the https:// (not http), the exact domain (no trailing slash, no www. difference), and the full query string. Copy it directly from the Full access card's "Redirect URI" helper text if unsure.

"access_denied" or "Access blocked: This app's request is invalid":

• Make sure your Google account is listed under Test users on the OAuth consent screen (Step 3)
• If your app is published rather than in Testing mode, it needs to go through Google's OAuth verification first — Testing mode is easier for a single-site install

"This API has not been enabled" / "PERMISSION_DENIED":

• You haven't been approved for Business Profile API access yet. Sign-in and location selection will work, but the review fetch fails. Wait for Google's approval email. Check your spam folder — the approval comes from noreply-cloud@google.com.

Connected but no locations show up:

• The Google account you signed in with doesn't have Manager or Owner access to any Business Profile. Make sure you're signing in with the correct account — the one that actually owns the Business Profile you want.

Last sync error says "invalid_grant" or "unauthorized_client":

• Your refresh token has been revoked (happens if you signed out of Google, changed passwords, or revoked access at myaccount.google.com/permissions). Click Disconnect in Trustie, then Sign in with Google again.

Reviews synced but not appearing on the site:

• Check the Active mode in the Status panel — it should say oauth if Full access is connected. If it still says places`, save the location picker again to commit the mode switch.
• Check that the Google Reviews feature is enabled in Tracksies > Settings > Features.

Still stuck? Drop us a line at hello@tracksies.com with a screenshot of the Status panel on the Full access card — that tells us exactly what state the connection is in and what to look at next.