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How to preview a review feed and approve individual reviews before visitors see them, or curate a fixed list.
Would you like to hand-pick which reviews show in your feed?
In this guide, we’ll walk you through turning on moderation, choosing an Allow List or a Block List, selecting reviews, and saving your choices. All you need is a reviews feed you’ve already created.
Requirements: Moderation requires a paid version of Reviews Feed.
Before you get started, make sure Reviews Feed is installed and activated on your WordPress site. If you don’t have a feed yet, see our guide on creating a reviews feed.
- Turning On Moderation
- Choosing Allow List or Block List
- Selecting Your Reviews
- Saving Your Moderation Settings
- Frequently Asked Questions
Turning On Moderation
Moderation lets you choose, one review at a time, which reviews a feed shows. For example, you can show only a few of your favorite reviews on your homepage, or hide a single review that’s no longer relevant.
To get started, we’ll open the feed you want to moderate. From your WordPress admin sidebar, go to Reviews Feed » All Feeds. Then, click the name of the feed.
Your feed opens in the feed editor, on the Customize tab. In the sidebar, click the Settings tab.
The Settings tab lists five sections: Sources, Sort, Filters, Moderation, and Language. Next, click Moderation.
This starts moderation mode. The preview on the right turns into the moderation list, a list of your feed’s reviews. This is where you’ll pick the reviews to show or hide.
In the sidebar, turn on the Enable switch.
While the Enable switch is off, the sidebar shows only that switch. In that state, moderation doesn’t change which reviews your feed shows.
Next, we’ll choose how your feed treats the reviews you select.
Choosing Allow List or Block List
Once moderation is on, the sidebar shows two ways to moderate your feed:
- Allow List: Hides every review by default. Your feed shows only the reviews you select. Choose this when you want to show only a few hand-picked reviews.
- Block List: Shows every review by default. Your feed hides the reviews you select. Choose this when you want to keep most of your reviews and hide only a few.
In this example, we want to show only a few hand-picked reviews. To do this, click Allow List.
Below the options, a notice explains that the moderation list lets you view and filter through your last 100 reviews.
Now we’ll select the reviews that make up your list.
Selecting Your Reviews
The moderation list on the right shows your feed’s reviews. Each review shows its date, its star rating, and its text, with a checkbox next to it.
Next, check the box next to each review you want your feed to show. If you chose Block List, check the reviews you want to hide instead.
Two tools help when your feed has a lot of reviews. We’ll look at them next.
Finding Reviews with Filter and Search
The Filter button and the search box above the list help you find the reviews you need. The reviews you’ve already checked stay checked while you filter or search.
To narrow the list by star rating, provider, or date, click Filter. Next, check the options you want. Then, click Apply.
For example, check five stars to see only your five-star reviews.
To find the reviews that mention a word, type it in the search box. The list updates to show only the matching reviews.
The search ignores uppercase and lowercase letters. This means “Delivery” and “delivery” find the same reviews.
When you clear the search box, the list shows all of your reviews again.
Once you’ve checked your reviews, we’ll make sure the selection is what you want.
Checking Your Selection
Before you save, you can review your choices. Above the list, click Show Selected.
The list now shows only the reviews you’ve checked. The Show All button next to it brings back the full list.
Now we’ll save your choices.
Saving Your Moderation Settings
When you’re happy with your selection, click Save and Exit in the sidebar.
The Cancel button next to it closes moderation mode without saving your changes.
After you save, a “Feed saved successfully” message appears and moderation mode closes. The preview then shows your feed with your moderation settings applied. With the Allow List in our example, the feed now shows only the three reviews we selected.
Your moderation settings apply to this feed everywhere it shows on your site.
That’s it! You now know how to use an Allow List or a Block List to hand-pick which reviews your feed shows.
Next, to show or hide reviews by star rating or by the words they contain, see our guide on filtering your reviews. To change how your feed looks, see our guide on customizing the look of your reviews feed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below, we’ve answered some of the most common questions about moderating your reviews feed.
Does moderation delete reviews from my sources?
No. Moderation only changes which reviews your feed displays. It doesn’t delete any reviews. If you remove a review from your Block List and save, it shows up in your feed again.
What happens to my new reviews when moderation is on?
It depends on the option you chose. With Allow List, a new review stays hidden until you select it. With Block List, a new review shows in your feed unless you select it.
This makes Allow List a good fit when you want to approve each review before your visitors see it.
Do I lose my selection when I switch between Allow List and Block List?
No. The Allow List and the Block List each keep their own selection. When you switch from one to the other, the moderation list shows the reviews saved for the option you picked. Your feed uses whichever option is selected when you save.
Checks you haven’t saved yet don’t carry over when you switch. This means it’s best to choose your option before you start checking reviews.
What happens if my Allow List has no reviews selected?
Your feed doesn’t show any reviews. With Allow List, every review stays hidden until you select it. To show reviews again, select at least one review on the Allow List, or switch to Block List.
Which reviews can I moderate?
The moderation list shows your last 100 reviews. You can view, filter, and select any of them to build your Allow List or Block List.
How does moderation work with my filters?
A review shows in your feed only when it passes both your filters and your moderation settings. The moderation list also only includes the reviews that pass your feed’s filters. For example, if your feed only shows five-star reviews, the moderation list only shows your five-star reviews.
To learn more, see our guide on filtering your reviews.
How do I turn off moderation?
In the Settings tab of your feed, open the Moderation section again and turn off the Enable switch. Then, save your feed with the Save button at the top of the feed editor. Your feed then shows all of its reviews again.
The plugin keeps your Allow List and Block List. Your selection is still there if you turn moderation back on.
Can I use different moderation settings on different feeds?
Yes. Each feed keeps its own moderation settings, Allow List, and Block List. Moderating one feed doesn’t change your other feeds.
