What is a Google rating badge?
A Google rating badge is a small, compact element you embed on your website that shows two pieces of information pulled from your Google Business Profile:
- ✓Your aggregate star rating (e.g. 4.9 ★)
- ✓Your total review count (e.g. "124 reviews on Google")
It does not display individual written reviews — those are the reviews with the reviewer's name, star rating, and comment text. For that, you need a full Google reviews widget.
Badges are designed to be compact and unobtrusive. You might place one in your website header, near a booking button, or in the footer — anywhere a small, credible trust signal fits naturally.
What can you show for free?
With WeWidget's free Google Rating Badge, you can display:
- ✓Your live Google star rating
- ✓Your total Google review count
- ✓"on Google" attribution text
- ✓The Google G icon inside the badge
The free badge is permanently free — there is no time limit and no credit card required. It includes WeWidget branding (“Powered by WeWidget”), which cannot be removed on the free plan.
The badge connects to your real Google Business Profile via Google's official API, so your rating and review count update automatically as you receive new reviews.
Why rating badges help local businesses build trust
Most local business websites have a generic design and similar claims — “professional,” “trusted,” “experienced.” Every business says the same thing. Your Google rating is one of the few things that is independently verified and difficult to fake.
Showing “4.9 ★ · 124 reviews on Google” near a booking button or contact form does something specific: it converts a website visitor who is still weighing their options into a warm enquiry. They arrive at your site cautious. They see your Google rating and they feel more confident. That confidence is worth a lot.
A rating badge alone gives you this signal without requiring a lot of website space. It is not a commitment to redesigning your whole website — it is a single addition that quietly does its job wherever you place it.
Where to place it on your website
The badge works best close to moments of decision. Think about where visitors are most likely to pause before taking action:
- Near your contact form or booking button — This is the highest-value placement. When someone is about to send an enquiry, seeing your rating reduces hesitation.
- In the website header — Sets a tone of credibility before the visitor reads anything else.
- On service or product pages — Reinforces trust where specific buying decisions are made.
- In the website footer — Persistent across all pages as a quiet background signal.
- On a "Why choose us" section — Direct context — your reviews are evidence for the claim you are making.
The difference between a rating badge and a full reviews widget
When to upgrade to full written Google reviews
The free badge is a good starting point, but there are situations where written reviews do the job better:
- You have detailed, specific reviewsIf customers write things like "they fixed our boiler at 9pm on a Sunday" or "James was incredibly patient and explained everything clearly," showing those exact words is far more convincing than just a star rating.
- Your website has a testimonials sectionA testimonials section that just says '4.9 ★' looks incomplete. Written reviews fill it properly and give visitors something to actually read.
- You have a competitive industryIn markets where customers compare providers carefully — trades, healthcare, legal, financial — written reviews give them specific evidence rather than just a number.
- You want to remove WeWidget brandingThe free badge always shows "Powered by WeWidget." If you want a completely unbranded experience, the Pro plan (£9/month) removes it.
How WeWidget's free badge works
The process takes about 5 minutes:
- 1Sign up for a free WeWidget account — no card required.
- 2Connect your Google Business Profile via secure Google sign-in.
- 3WeWidget fetches your star rating and review count from Google's API.
- 4Copy one line of code from your dashboard.
- 5Paste it into your website where you want the badge to appear.
Once installed, the badge updates automatically as new reviews come in. You do not need to touch the code again. If you decide to upgrade to a full reviews widget later, your existing embed code continues to work — the widget just starts showing written reviews as well.