If you run a Shopify store for a business that also exists in the real world — a shop, a showroom, a trade, a salon — your best social proof is probably sitting on your Google Business Profile, not in a Shopify product reviews app. Those reviews mention your service, your staff and your premises, and shoppers trust them precisely because they live on Google rather than on your own site.
The good news: you do not need an app from the Shopify App Store to display them. Every modern Shopify theme accepts custom HTML, and a lightweight embed does the rest. This guide covers the three ways to add the code, where to place reviews for the most effect, and the pitfalls that catch people out.
App vs embed: why a snippet usually wins
Shopify apps are convenient, but each one you install adds its own scripts to your storefront, its own monthly line on your bill, and its own point of failure. For something as simple as displaying reviews, a small embed snippet does the same job with less weight:
- →Nothing to install or update. The snippet lives in your theme; there is no app to maintain or grant permissions to.
- →Lighter pages. The WeWidget embed is under 20 KB gzipped — smaller than most product photos on your store.
- →No theme conflicts. The widget renders inside a Shadow DOM, so your theme’s CSS and the widget’s styles never interfere with each other.
Step 1: Get your embed code
- Go to wewidget.app and sign up — no card needed for the 30-day trial
- Search for your business by name (no Google login required)
- Pick a layout — there are 9 layouts and 20 ready-made styles; a carousel or grid suits most stores
- Copy the embed code — two short lines of HTML
If you only want a star-rating badge rather than full reviews, that part is free forever — no trial, no card.
Step 2: Add the code to Shopify — three ways
Option A: Custom Liquid block (easiest, recommended)
- In Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes and click Customize on your live theme
- Navigate to the page where you want reviews (homepage, a landing page, or a product template)
- Click Add section (or Add block inside an existing section)
- Choose Custom Liquid — every Online Store 2.0 theme, including Dawn, has it
- Paste your embed code into the Liquid box and click Save
Custom Liquid blocks accept plain HTML and script tags, so the embed works as-is. Drag the section up or down the page to position it.
Option B: Edit theme code directly
For precise placement — say, directly under the add-to-cart button — go to Online Store → Themes → ⋯ → Edit code, open the template or section file you want (for example sections/main-product.liquid), and paste the embed where it should render. Duplicate your theme first so you have a rollback if anything looks off.
Option C: A page’s rich text editor
For a standalone reviews or about page, open the page under Online Store → Pages, click the <> (show HTML) button in the editor toolbar, and paste the embed into the HTML view. Handy for one-off pages, though the theme editor gives you more layout control.
Badge or full widget?
Two sensible setups, depending on where the visitor is in your store:
- →Rating badge — a compact star rating with your review count. Free forever. Perfect near the header, footer, or beside the add-to-cart button, where space is tight.
- →Full reviews widget — carousel, grid or list showing the actual review text. From £5/month after the 30-day trial. Best on the homepage and landing pages, where shoppers are still deciding whether to trust you.
Many stores use both: a badge on product pages, a full carousel on the homepage. The widget also adds schema.org AggregateRating markup, which makes your pages eligible for star ratings in Google search results.
Product page or homepage?
Google reviews are about your business, not an individual product, so think about what question the visitor is asking on each page. On the homepage, the question is “can I trust this shop at all?” — full reviews answer it well. On a product page, the question is about the product; a full wall of business reviews can distract from the buy button, so a compact badge or a short horizontal strip below the product details works better. On the cart or contact page, a badge is a quiet final reassurance.
Common pitfalls
Pasting into a plain text block
A normal rich text block will display the code as literal text instead of running it. Use a Custom Liquid block, or the HTML view of the page editor.
Editing a theme you have not backed up
If you go the Edit code route, duplicate your theme first (⋯ → Duplicate). A stray character in a Liquid file can break a template.
Adding it to a template, expecting it on one product
Product templates are shared. A block added to your default product template appears on every product using it. If you only want reviews on some products, create an alternate template and assign it to those products.
Judging it in the editor preview only
The theme editor preview sometimes lazy-loads third-party scripts oddly. Always check the published storefront — and on a phone, where most of your traffic is.
Keeping it fresh
Once embedded, there is nothing to maintain. WeWidget syncs your Google reviews automatically every day, so new reviews flow through without touching your theme again. And because the widget only displays reviews that are already public on Google, the setup stays GDPR-friendly — details on our GDPR page.