Reviews courseModule 6 of 7: Using Your ReviewsLesson 6.2
Showing Reviews on Your Website and in Marketing
Showing your reviews on your own website, in adverts, on social media and in property marketing: a quote on a valuation page, a live widget, a rating line on a leaflet, a screenshot in a post. What the rules say, what Google does and doesn't do with embedded reviews, and how to choose a widget.
By Morgan King, founder of Reyse Facts checked October 2026 Jump to Your turn
Why it matters
Old five-star slideshows beside "Rated 5.0", when Google shows 4.6, are a trust problem and, under UK law, a legal one.
The evidence
Evidence: Official guidance
The DMCC Act and CMA guidance, the CAP Code and ASA advice, and Google's review snippet rules. Widget speed and prices are vendor claims only.
Do this first
Compare every rating and quote on your site with your live profiles, and note any that are old, unsourced or one-sided.
01What it is
A bakery puts a sign in the window saying “Everyone loves our cakes”. If it only hangs up the nice notes, or shows notes from three years ago as if they were today’s, people feel tricked when they walk in. Showing the sign is fine. Showing it fairly is the rule.
Think of it like
A shop window. You can choose a tidy display, but you can't paint over the crack or show last year's prices as today's.
02Why it matters
To the people searching
Visitors compare what you say with what they've seen on Google. In YouGov's 2025 survey, 54% of British adults said a mix of positive and negative reviews matters, and only 26% read reviews on a seller's own website (61% use sites like Trustpilot). There's no independent UK study showing reviews on an agent's website increase enquiries, so keep it honest and simple.
buyers
Check that the reviews on your site match what's on Google.
tenants
Look for how you handle problems, not just praise.
sellers
Look for proof near the valuation form, and are put off if it looks too perfect.
landlords
Want landlord reviews on landlord pages, not a seller's quote.
To Google, the platforms and AI
Evidence: Official guidanceShowing reviews on your site doesn't earn a search feature: Google won't show review stars for a business's own reviews of itself, even through a third-party widget. Google says it tries to link content in an embedded frame to the page that shows it, but not always, so a review inside a widget may not be read as part of your page by Google or by AI tools. Put your key quotes in plain text and treat a widget as a display tool, not an SEO tool.
An agent example
Brookfield and Pryor Lettings showed a slideshow of eight five-star quotes, with first names and photos, mostly from 2021, beside "Rated 5.0". Its Google profile showed 4.6 and several three-star reviews, and one slide was a landlord's comment on a page for tenants. It replaced the slideshow with two recent quotes per audience, asked each named person for permission, showed "4.6 from 212 Google reviews, 14 October 2026" with a link, and kept the originals on file.
03Your turn
Check yours, then fix it
- 1For each review shown on your site, note its date, platform, whether you have permission, and whether it suits the page's audience.
- 2Compare any overall rating with your live profile.
- 1Count the negative and mixed reviews shown on your site against your profile.
- 2If your site shows none and your profile shows several, you may be giving a misleading picture.
- List every other place a rating or quote appears: window cards, brochures, email footers, social posts, adverts. Check each for a date, a source and evidence.
- 1Run the page through PageSpeed Insights on mobile, with and without the widget if you can.
- 2A widget that slows the page may cost more than it earns.
Here are the testimonials and rating line on my estate agency website, with names removed. List any that could be misleading because they're out of date, unevidenced, not relevant to the page, cherry-picked or missing a source. Don't give legal advice; I'll check each.
- 1Name the platform, the count and the date with the rating: "4.6 from 96 Google reviews, 14 October 2026", with a link to the profile.
- 2Show a fair mix of recent, genuine quotes. Never show only five-star quotes and call it your rating.
- 3Don't edit a review beyond an obvious typo, and never delete a genuine negative one from a page you control.
- 1Ask before using a client's name, photo or street, say where it'll appear, and take it down if they ask.
- 2Keep the originals, dates and permissions in an evidence file.
- 3Only use reviews from genuine clients, never staff, family or friends.
- 1Seller reviews on valuation pages, landlord reviews on landlord pages, tenant reviews on tenancy pages. A landlord's quote on a seller page can mislead.
- 2One or two relevant quotes beside a call to action usually work better than thirty. Link to your full profile for the rest.
- 1A handwritten reviews page with a few real quotes and a dated rating line is often the cheapest and safest choice for a small agency.
- 2If you use a widget (Trustpilot's TrustBox, a Google reviews widget, or one from your CRM supplier), choose one that shows the platform, the date and the full rating, and test its speed.
- 3A Google reviews widget may show only a handful of reviews, and not your newest, so your page can look different from your profile.
- 1"Best", "No. 1" and "top rated" need evidence (GEO 7.3).
- 2Don't crop a screenshot to hide a lower score or an older date.
- 3Don't use a platform's badge unless it's current and the platform allows it.
Then: Check your reviews page and quoted figures monthly alongside your numbers, refresh dated figures at least quarterly, and re-check after any redesign or new plugin.
04Keep it up
Monthly glance, quarterly refresh of dated figures.
Go deeperThe rules, briefly
- UK law (DMCC Act): publishing reviews, ratings or counts in a misleading way is banned, and so is publishing reviews without taking reasonable steps to keep fake and hidden-incentive ones out. A widget doesn't move that responsibility to someone else.
- No cherry-picking: Trading Standards' Business Companion lists suppressing negative reviews and cherry-picking good ones as misleading. Keep reviews relevant and not out of date.
- The CAP Code: hold evidence that testimonials are genuine (rule 3.47), make sure they relate to the service advertised (3.48), don't let them mislead (3.49), and get permission (3.50).
Sources
- 1.Fake reviews: guidance for businesses (CMA208) · Competition and Markets Authority
- 2.Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20 · legislation.gov.uk
- 3.Review snippet structured data · Google Search Central
- 4.Testimonials and endorsements · Advertising Standards Authority
- 5.How UK shoppers check if an online store is legit before purchasing · YouGov, 2025
Facts checked October 2026, and re-checked every quarter. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
That's lesson 6.2
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