README

Google Reviews Widget for Contao CMS with support for:

Frontend Module
Content Element
Google Places API
Schema.org structured data
Local JSON caching

Features

Display Google ratings
Average star rating
Total review count
Link to Google reviews
Local caching
Automatic hide if no reviews available
Usable as:
- Frontend Module
- Content Element

Installation

Via Contao Manager

Search for:

s-punkt-online/contao-google-reviews-widget

Install the package and run the database migration.

Via Composer

composer require s-punkt-online/contao-google-reviews-widget

Then clear the cache:

vendor/bin/contao-console cache:clear

Google API Setup

1. Create Google Cloud Project

Open Google Cloud Console:

https://console.cloud.google.com

2. Enable Places API

Enable:

Places API

Important:

Do not only enable Places API (New). This extension currently uses the classic Places API.

3. Create API Key

Open:

APIs & Services → Credentials

Create a new API key.

4. Configure API Key

Application restrictions

For testing:

None

Later recommended:

IP restriction for your server

Important:

Do not use HTTP Referrer restrictions because the API requests are executed server-side via PHP.

API restrictions

Allow:

Places API

Find Google Place ID

Use:

https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/places-placeid-finder

Usage as Frontend Module

Backend:

Themes → Frontend Modules

Module type:

Google Reviews Widget

Usage as Content Element

Backend:

Articles → New Element

Element type:

Google Reviews Widget

Available Fields

Google API Key

Your Google API key.

Google Place ID

Google Place ID of the business.

Business Name

Used for Schema.org structured data.

Example:

Example Company GmbH

Business URL

Example:

https://www.example.com

Google Review URL

Direct link to Google reviews.

Position

Where the widget is shown on the page: bottom left (default) or bottom right.

Accent Color

Color used for the border, stars and button. Leave empty for the default color.

Cache

Google API responses are stored locally.

Path:

var/cache/contao-google-reviews-widget/

Benefits:

Better performance
Fewer API requests
Lower Google API costs

The rating is refreshed once every 24 hours. If a request to Google fails (outage, exhausted quota, invalid key), the last known rating keeps being shown and Google is not asked again for 15 minutes. The error is written to the Contao system log (without the API key).

Template Override

Template:

ce_google_reviews_widget.html5

Can be overridden inside your Contao project.

CSS & JavaScript

Assets are loaded automatically.

Files:

public/css/google-reviews-widget.css
public/js/google-reviews-widget.js

Requirements

Contao 5.3+
PHP 8.1+
Enabled Google Places API

Support

S Punkt Online GmbH

https://www.s-punkt-online.de

s-punkt-online / contao-google-reviews-widget

Package info

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