Google reviews, promo bar, and social links
Show live Google reviews (or your own testimonials), run a promo banner, and link your social profiles on your storefront.
Build buyer trust and run promos on your public storefront with three add-ons: a reviews block, a top-of-page promo banner, and social icons in your footer.
These live in two different places:
- Reviews & testimonials — a card on the main Website settings page. Saved on its own.
- Promo bar and Social links — edited in the visual builder, and go live when you Publish.
Show Google reviews (or your own testimonials)
The reviews block appears on your storefront's home, Contact, and About pages — on every layout — whenever there's something to show. If you connect a Google Place ID, it shows your live Google rating and reviews. If you don't, it shows testimonials you type in yourself. When you have neither, the block is simply hidden.
When a Google Place ID is set, Google reviews take priority — your manual testimonials are used only when no Place ID is connected (or Google has nothing to return).
Connect your Google reviews
- Go to Website. Scroll to the Reviews & testimonials card under Content & trust.
- Find your business's Place ID using Google's Place ID finder (linked right under the field).
- Paste it into the Google Place ID box. It usually looks like
ChIJ…. - Click Save reviews settings.
Your storefront will then show your Google star rating and review count (when Google reports them), up to 5 recent reviews, and — when Google provides the link — a See all reviews on Google button.
Live Google reviews depend on a Google connection that AutoDealer.io sets up at the platform level. If reviews don't appear after saving a valid Place ID, your storefront quietly falls back to the testimonials below instead of erroring — add testimonials as a backup, and the reviews will switch over once Google data is available.
Google reviews are cached for about 6 hours to keep costs down, so a brand-new review can take a few hours to appear on your site.
Add your own testimonials
Use these when you don't have a Place ID, or as a fallback.
- In the Reviews & testimonials card, click Add.
- Pick a star rating (1–5).
- Type the testimonial text (required, up to 1000 characters).
- Add a customer name (optional, up to 120 characters).
- Repeat for more (up to 24 total). Use the trash icon to remove one.
- Click Save reviews settings.
A testimonial with blank text is dropped automatically when you save, so a half-typed row won't block you.
Add a promo / announcement bar
A single-line banner across the very top of every public page — great for "0% APR this month" or a holiday sale.
The promo bar is edited in the visual builder, so changes stay a draft until you Publish.
- Go to Website and click Open visual builder.
- On the live preview, click the announcement bar at the very top of the page (or the area where it would appear) to open its edit panel.
- Turn on Show announcement bar.
- Type your Message (up to 160 characters).
- Optional: in Link (optional), add a target so the whole bar is clickable. Use a site path like
/inventoryor a full URL starting withhttps://. - Click Publish to push it live.
The bar only shows when it's switched on AND has text. If you enable it but leave the message blank, it stays hidden — so an empty banner never appears.
A link must start with http://, https://, or /. Anything else is rejected when you publish.
Link your social profiles
Filled-in social links show as icons in your storefront footer. Like the promo bar, these are edited in the visual builder and go live on Publish.
- Go to Website and click Open visual builder.
- On the live preview, click the footer at the bottom of the page to open its edit panel.
- Paste the full URL to each profile — Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, or LinkedIn. Start each with
https://. - Leave a box blank (or clear it) to hide that icon.
- Click Publish to push the changes live.
Each link must be a full URL starting with http(s):// — a handle like @yourdealership won't work. Use https://instagram.com/yourdealership, not @yourdealership.
FAQ
Where do these settings live?
Reviews & testimonials is a card on the main Website page (saved on its own with Save reviews settings). The promo bar and social links are edited inside the visual builder and only go live when you click Publish.
Who can change these?
Only an Owner or Manager. They're available on all plans.
Where do Google reviews show up on my site?
On your storefront's home, Contact, and About pages, on every layout. The same block shows Google reviews when a Place ID is connected, or your manual testimonials when it isn't, and is hidden when you have neither.
How do I find my Google Place ID?
Use the Place ID finder link right under the Google Place ID field — it opens Google's official tool where you search your business and copy the ID (usually starting with ChIJ…).
I saved a Place ID but no reviews show. What's wrong?
A few possibilities: the live Google connection isn't active yet (your site then falls back to testimonials), the Place ID is wrong, your Google profile has no reviews, or the 6-hour cache hasn't refreshed yet. Double-check the ID and add a couple of testimonials as a safety net.
Why can't I see my new Google review on the site immediately?
Google review data is cached for about 6 hours to limit lookups, so new reviews can take a few hours to appear.
I edited the promo bar / social links but nothing changed on my live site.
Those edits are draft-only. Click Publish in the visual builder to push them live.
Can the promo banner link to an outside page?
Yes. Use a full URL like https://example.com, or a path on your own site like /inventory.