Why do I only see a few reviews?

New review feeds show fewer reviews than you expect because of platform API limits. Google, for example, shares only ten.

Are you seeing only a few reviews in your feed, even though your business has many more on the review site?

In this guide, we’ll explain why a feed can show fewer reviews than you expect and how to show more of them. All you need is a feed that you’ve already created with Reviews Feed.

Before you get started, make sure Reviews Feed is installed and activated on your WordPress site. Our guides cover installing the free version and the paid version.

• Checking the Number of Reviews to Display
• Getting Older Reviews From Google and Yelp
• Checking Your Filters and Moderation
• Checking How Other Review Sources Get Reviews
• Getting More Help
• Frequently Asked Questions

Checking the Number of Reviews to Display

Start with the feed’s own setting, because it’s the quickest to check. It caps how many reviews your feed shows, even when more reviews are saved on your site.

To find it, go to Reviews Feed » All Feeds and open your feed. In the feed editor, open the Customize tab. Then open the Layout section. The setting is called Number of reviews to display.

• In the free version, a feed displays up to ten reviews. To show more, you need the paid version.
• In the paid version, you can set it up to 1,000. You can also set separate numbers for tablet and mobile. If your feed shows fewer reviews on a phone or tablet, check those numbers too.

In the paid version, the Customize tab also has a Load More Button section. It adds a button that loads more reviews into the feed when a visitor clicks it. Our guide on customizing the look of your reviews feed walks you through both settings.

Next, we’ll look at how Google and Yelp share reviews.

Getting Older Reviews From Google and Yelp

When you add a Google or Yelp source without your own API key, Reviews Feed gets the newest reviews. That’s why a new feed starts small. Older reviews come in when you add your own API key on a paid license level.

You can tell this is the cause when your source was added without an API key and your feed shows only recent reviews. How many reviews come in depends on your version.

• In the free version, Reviews Feed fetches the latest ten reviews from your source once.
• In the paid version, sources without an API key update once a week. Each update adds new reviews. The reviews you already have stay saved. That’s how the feed grows over time.

In the free version, an API key lets Reviews Feed fetch reviews again. That way, new reviews keep coming in. Importing older reviews needs a paid license level.

To see what each version includes, check our comparison of the free and paid versions.

To get older reviews, add your own Google or Yelp API key on any paid license level. When you add a source with a key, Reviews Feed imports older reviews in the background. The message “Fetching reviews history in the background!” lets you know the import started.

Sources with a key also update more often.

To get a key, see our guides to creating a Google API key and creating a Yelp API key.

If you added the key after the source, go to Reviews Feed » Settings and open the Feeds tab. Under Caching, click Clear All Caches. On a paid license level, this starts the import for your Google and Yelp sources that have a key.

The import can take a few minutes and can slow down your site for a short time. The reviews already saved on your site are kept. When the import finishes, your feed can show the older reviews, up to its display number.

Next, we’ll check whether your feed’s settings are hiding reviews.

Checking Your Filters and Moderation

In the paid version, filters and moderation hide reviews on purpose. A strict filter can leave your feed with only a few reviews.

You can tell this is the cause when filters or moderation are turned on and your feed shows fewer reviews than its display number. When no review fits, the feed shows the message “There were no posts that fit your filters.”

To check them, open your feed in the feed editor and go to the Settings tab.

• Under Filters, check which star ratings are included. Also check the By Words and By Character Count settings. Filters pick from your newest saved reviews. That means a narrow filter can match only a few of them.
• Under Moderation, check whether it’s turned on and which list you use. An Allow List hides every review except the ones you select. A Block List shows every review except the ones you select.

If these settings hide reviews you want to show, change them so more of your reviews fit. For example, include more star ratings or select more reviews in your Allow List.

The moderation list lets you view and filter through your last 100 reviews.

For more details, see our guides to filtering reviews by rating, keyword, and source and using the moderation features.

Next, we’ll look at how the other review sources get their reviews.

Checking How Other Review Sources Get Reviews

The other review sources come with the Plus and Elite license levels. Each one gets its reviews in its own way.

You can tell this is the cause when your feed uses a source other than Google or Yelp. In the list below, find your source to see how it gets its reviews.

• Airbnb, Booking.com, and AliExpress sources fetch older reviews in the background after you add them. After that, new reviews are added as the source updates.
• WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads reviews come from your own site, not from an outside review site.
• Facebook, Trustpilot, TripAdvisor, and WordPress.org sources start with the newest reviews that the review site shares. New reviews are added as the source updates.

For each of these sources, the reviews you already have stay saved when new ones come in. So a feed that starts small grows as new reviews are posted.

Finally, we’ll look at how to get help from our support team.

Getting More Help

If your feed still shows fewer reviews than you expect, our support team can take a look. To get your site’s details ready, go to Reviews Feed » Support. Under System Info, click Copy and paste it into your request.

Also include the feed’s name, the review site, and how many reviews you see. In the paid version, click Submit a Support Ticket on the same page. In the free version, click Get Help in the WordPress.org Forum.

That’s it! Now you know how the display number, an API key, your filters, and your review source each change how many reviews your feed shows.

Next, see our guide to filtering reviews by rating, keyword, and source to choose which reviews your feed shows.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below, we’ve answered some of the most common questions about how many reviews your feed shows.