Riccardo

RicReviews is a free and open-source WordPress plugin that displays Google Places reviews on your website using a simple shortcode. The plugin fetches reviews from Google Places API (New) and displays them beautifully on your WordPress site.
<h4>Key Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Easy Integration: Display reviews anywhere on your site with a simple shortcode</li>
<li>Automatic Updates: Reviews are automatically fetched and updated via configurable WordPress cron (daily, weekly, or monthly)</li>
<li>Smart Caching: Built-in caching system to improve performance</li>
<li>Customizable: Choose your primary color and theme (light/dark)</li>
<li>Flexible Display: Control the number of reviews and sorting options</li>
<li>Multilingual Support: Fetch reviews in multiple languages and filter by language in shortcode</li>
<li>Debug Logging: Optional debug logging for troubleshooting API issues</li>
<li>Secure: Follows WordPress coding standards and security best practices</li>
</ul>
<h4>How It Works</h4>
<ol>
<li>Initial Fetch: When you save settings, the plugin fetches reviews from Google Places API</li>
<li>Database Storage: Reviews are stored in a custom database table for fast retrieval</li>
<li>Caching: Reviews are cached using WordPress transients for 24 hours</li>
<li>Automatic Updates: WordPress cron job automatically fetches new reviews based on your configured frequency</li>
<li>Display: Shortcode retrieves reviews from cache/database and displays them</li>
</ol>
<h4>Important Note</h4>
Google Places API returns a maximum of 5 reviews per place per API call. This is a hard limit imposed by Google, not a limitation of this plugin. Each API call returns up to 5 reviews, and the plugin performs automatic fetches based on your configured frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly). Over time, you may accumulate more reviews in the database as Google updates the “5 most helpful reviews” for your place.
If you configure multiple languages, each language requires a separate API call, potentially allowing you to collect more reviews (up to 5 per language).
For more information, see <a href="https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/policies#review-policy" rel="nofollow ugc">Google’s Review Policy Documentation</a>.
<h4>Service Information</h4>
This plugin acts as an interface to Google Places API (New). By installing and configuring this plugin, you consent to the use of Google Places API service. Please review <a href="https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/policies" rel="nofollow ugc">Google Places API Terms of Service</a> before use.

RicReviews

Display Google Places reviews on your WordPress site using a simple shortcode. Fetches reviews from Google Places API (New).

Gary Kovar

If you find you regularly write blog posts about (local?) places you might want to provide info such as hours, phone number, address to your users. However, this can be difficult to keep current. Fortunately Google offers an API called Google Places API Web Service. Google Place API Web Service allows you to Add up-to-date information about millions of locations.
WP_Places Plugin requires a Google Places API Web Service Key. However, at the time of writing the API key is free and provides up to 1,000 requests per 24 hour period. If you verify your identity (by providing Google a Credit Card) they will increase your daily request per 24 hours to 150,000.
Once Installed, WP_Places takes name and location and displays a DIV containing Business Name, Address, Hours, Phone Number, Website.
The following shortcodes are available:
<ul>
<li>[wp_places name] displays the Google Places name</li>
<li>[wp_places formattedAddress] displays the address in the regionally standardized way</li>
<li>[wp_places phoneNumber] displays the phone number in the regionally standardized way</li>
<li>[wp_places hours] displays the hours of operation in a list</li>
<li>[wp_places website] displays the website</li>
<li>[wp_places priceLevel] returns the pricing level as prescribed in google places API</li>
<li>[wp_places rating] returns the average rating as prescribed in google places API</li>
<li>[wp_places lat] lattitude</li>
<li>[wp_places lng] longitude</li>
<li>[wp_places openNow] returns 1 if open</li>
<li>[wp_places openNowText] returns “Open Now” if open</li>
<li>[wp_places permanentlyClosed] returns 1 if permanently closed</li>
<li>[wp_places photos] returns photos if google supplies them</li>
<li>[wp_places reviews] returns a UL list of reviews if google supplies them</li>
</ul>
To filter how long to cache the google reply there is a filter:
add_filter( ‘wp_places_transient’, ‘wp_places_update_transient’, 10, 1 ); 
wp_places_update_transient( $time ) { 
 // return a value in seconds for how long to cache. 
 return 86400; // one day 
 return 604800 // one week 
}

WP_Places

I wrote this. And it works for me. I kinda like me. Thanks me.



Biased review

WP_Places populates up-to-the-minute information about almost any location or business. Display address, phone number, hours of operation, and website …

RicReviews vs WP_Places