How to use Google Reviews Carousel Widget of Sky Addons for Elementor

The Sky Addons Google Reviews Carousel widget fetches live Google Place reviews and presents them in a smooth Swiper carousel with full navigation, pagination, autoplay, and responsive columns. It shares all the source and display controls of the Google Reviews grid widget — same Place ID setup, card styles, minimum rating filter, and caching — but arranges the cards in a sliding carousel instead of a static grid. This documentation covers carousel-specific settings and how they combine with the standard review options.

Features:

1. Live Google Place Reviews in a Carousel: Pulls up to 5 reviews from the Google Places API and renders them as swipeable slides, cached server-side to keep load times fast.
2. Responsive Columns: Set different slides-per-view for desktop, tablet, and mobile independently (1–4 columns).
3. Full Carousel Controls: Autoplay, loop, speed, spaceBetween, centeredSlides, and all standard Swiper options via the Carousel Settings section.
4. Navigation Arrows: Custom Prev/Next arrow icons with full style control — size, colour, background, border, border radius, and offset.
5. Pagination: Dots, lines, dynamic bullets, fraction, and progress bar pagination types with colour and size controls.
6. Active Slide Styling: A dedicated Active tab in the Review Card style section lets you highlight the currently centred slide with a different background, border, or shadow.
7. Multiple Card Styles + Place Summary: All the card style, display toggles, excerpt length, read more/less, and place summary options from the grid widget are available here too.
8. Minimum Rating Filter + Cache: Same source controls — hide low-rated reviews and configure cache duration from 1 hour to 1 week.

Add Your Google Maps API Key

The widget requires a Google Maps API key with the Places API enabled. Go to Sky Addons → Settings → API → Google Maps API Key, enter your key, and save. Without a valid key the editor displays a notice and the front end renders nothing.

Insert Google Reviews Carousel Widget

1. Open your page in Elementor and click the + icon to add a new section.
2. Search for Google Reviews Carousel in the widget panel and drag it onto the canvas.
3. In the Source section, paste your Google Place ID into the Place ID field.

Configure Layout

The Layout section sets how many review cards are visible at once.

• Columns — slides per view: 1, 2, 3, or 4. Defaults to 3 on desktop, 2 on tablet, 1 on mobile. Adjust per breakpoint using the responsive controls.

Configure Source Settings

• Google Place ID — unique identifier for your business. Find it at the Google Place ID Finder.
• Reviews Language — language code for the reviews (e.g. en, de). Empty = place default.
• Minimum Rating — hide reviews below the chosen star threshold (1–5).
• Cache Duration — 1 Hour to 1 Week. Use 12 Hours or longer for production to stay within Google API quotas.

Configure Display Settings

• Card Style — select a built-in card design.
• Place Summary — show the business overall rating bar above or below the carousel.
• Avatar / Reviewer Name / Date / Stars Rating / Review Text / Google Logo — toggle each element on or off.
• Excerpt Length — characters shown before the Read More link.
• Read More Label / Read Less Label — customise expand/collapse link text.
• Text Alignment — left, centre, or right.

Configure Carousel Settings

The Carousel Settings section exposes all Swiper options.

• Autoplay — enable and set delay (ms) between slides.
• Loop — infinite loop through slides.
• Speed — transition speed in ms.
• Space Between — gap between slides in px.
• Centred Slides — keeps the active slide visually centred.
• Pause on Hover — pauses autoplay when the cursor is over the carousel.

Configure Navigation

The Navigation section controls the previous/next arrows.

• Enable navigation and choose custom Prev/Next icons.
• Set icon size, background colour, border, border radius, and position offsets from the Navigation style section.

Configure Pagination

The Pagination section controls the dot/progress indicator below the carousel.

• Pagination types: Bullets, Dynamic Bullets, Lines, Fraction, Progress Bar.
• Style the pagination colour, active colour, and size from the Pagination style section.

Style the Widget

• Review Card — Normal / Hover / Active tabs: background, border, radius, padding, backdrop blur. The Active tab styles the currently focused slide.
• Avatar — size and border radius.
• Reviewer Name — typography, colour, hover colour.
• Date / Stars / Review Text — colour, typography, spacing.
• Read More / Quote Mark / Header Band / Place Summary — same style options as the grid widget.
• Navigation — arrow icon size, colours (normal/hover), background, border, radius, and offset.
• Pagination — dot/line colour and active colour, size.

Save and Preview

Click Update to save. Open the page in a browser to confirm the carousel slides correctly, navigation arrows work, and the reviews display as expected. On first load the widget fetches from Google; subsequent loads serve the cached data.

Best Practices

• Use Centred Slides with an Active card style to create a “spotlight” effect on the current review.
• Enable Pause on Hover for testimonial sections so visitors can read the full review without it scrolling away.
• Set Columns: 1 on mobile via the responsive breakpoint controls for a clean single-card view on small screens.
• Set Cache Duration to 12 Hours or longer on production to avoid exceeding the Google Places API free quota.

Troubleshooting

• No slides appear — check Place ID and API key (Sky Addons → Settings → API). Ensure the Places API is enabled in Google Cloud Console.
• Carousel not sliding — confirm Swiper scripts are loading. Deactivate other plugins temporarily to rule out script conflicts.
• Reviews not updating — set Cache Duration to No Cache to force a fresh fetch, then restore it after confirming the data is current.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Google Reviews and Google Reviews Carousel?

Both widgets fetch the same Google Place reviews. Google Reviews displays them in a static responsive grid or masonry layout. Google Reviews Carousel displays them as interactive swipeable slides with navigation, pagination, and autoplay. Choose the carousel for narrow or hero sections; use the grid for full-width review sections.

Can I have multiple review carousels on the same page?

Yes. Each widget instance is fully independent — different Place IDs, different carousel settings, each with its own cache.

How do I style the active (centre) slide differently?

In the Style → Review Card section, switch to the Active tab. Set a different background, stronger shadow, or border colour. Enable Centred Slides in Carousel Settings so the active slide is always in the middle.

Does the carousel work with touch and swipe on mobile?

Yes. The carousel uses Swiper.js which has native touch-swipe support built in. No additional configuration is needed.

Related Documentation

• Google Reviews — same reviews in a static grid or masonry layout.
• Google Maps — interactive map with markers using the same API key.
• Testimonial Carousel — manually crafted testimonials in a carousel layout.
• Review Carousel — handwritten reviews in a swipeable carousel.

Conclusion

The Google Reviews Carousel widget transforms your live Google feedback into an engaging, animated testimonial section. Set your Place ID, configure the carousel behaviour and card style, then use the Style tab to match your site’s design exactly. With server-side caching, smooth Swiper transitions, and a dedicated Active slide style, it delivers a professional reviews experience with minimal setup.