Google Reviews Help & Troubleshooting

Find solutions to common problems with GroPulse Google Reviews. If you can’t find your issue here, contact support.

Reviews Not Showing

No reviews found for your location

Symptoms:

• “No Reviews found for your place” message
• Empty review widget on store

Causes:

1. Your Google Business Profile has no reviews
2. Wrong location was added
3. Reviews haven’t synced yet

Solutions:

1. Verify your Google Business has reviews
   • Search for your business on Google Maps
   • Check if reviews are visible on your listing
   • If no reviews, you need to collect some first
2. Confirm correct location
   • Go to Manage locations
   • Verify the address matches your Google Business
   • If wrong, remove and add the correct location
3. Force a sync
   • Go to Manage locations
   • Click Update reviews now
   • Wait 1-2 minutes and refresh

Reviews exist but widget is empty

Symptoms:

• Google shows you have reviews
• Widget on store shows nothing

Causes:

1. Filters are too restrictive
2. Widget is disabled
3. Theme editor issue

Solutions:

1. Check your filters
   • Go to Filter reviews
   • Set minimum rating to 1 Star (shows all)
   • Set language to Default
   • Click Apply filter
2. Check widget status
   • Go to Manage locations → Manage widgets
   • Ensure the widget toggle is On
3. Verify theme editor
   • Open Shopify theme editor
   • Check if GroPulse app block is added
   • Make sure it’s not hidden

Widget Not Appearing on Store

Widget added but not visible

Symptoms:

• Added widget in Manage locations
• Nothing shows on the store page

Causes:

1. App block not added in theme editor
2. Wrong page selected
3. Theme compatibility issue

Solutions:

1. Add app block in theme editor
   • From Manage locations, click Add widget
   • In the theme editor, find “Apps” or “App blocks”
   • Add the GroPulse Google Reviews block
   • Position it where you want
   • Click Save
2. Verify page selection
   • The widget only appears on the page type you selected
   • If you selected “Home page”, check your home page
   • For “Product pages”, check a product page
3. Check theme version
   • GroPulse works best with Shopify 2.0 themes
   • For older themes, you may need manual code installation
   • Contact support for help

Widget shows on wrong page

Solution:

1. Go to Manage locations → Manage widgets
2. Find the widget with wrong placement
3. Delete it using the action button
4. Add a new widget selecting the correct page

Location Issues

Can’t find my business in search

Symptoms:

• Typing business name shows no results
• Wrong businesses appear in suggestions

Solutions:

1. Try different search terms
   • Use exact business name from Google
   • Add city or address
   • Example: “Joe’s Pizza Brooklyn NY”
2. Use Place ID method
   • Switch to Enter Place ID tab
   • Find your Place ID from Google’s Place ID Finder
   • Paste and add

Invalid Place ID error

Symptoms:

• Error when entering Place ID
• “Failed to add location” message

Causes:

1. Incorrectly copied Place ID
2. Business no longer exists on Google
3. Place ID format is wrong

Solutions:

1. Verify Place ID format
   • Should look like: ChIJN1t_tDeuEmsRUsoyG83frY4
   • Starts with Ch
   • Contains letters, numbers, underscores, hyphens
   • Usually 20-30 characters
2. Get fresh Place ID
   • Use Google’s Place ID Finder
   • Search for your business
   • Copy the new Place ID
3. Check for extra characters
   • Remove any spaces before/after
   • Remove any quotes
   • Make sure it’s just the Place ID

Location already added error

Your business is already in your locations list. Each business can only be added once.

Solution:

• Go to Manage locations to see your existing locations
• No action needed if it’s already there

Sync Issues

Reviews not updating

Symptoms:

• Old reviews still showing
• New Google reviews not appearing

Solutions:

1. Manual sync
   • Go to Manage locations
   • Click Update reviews now
   • Wait 1-2 minutes
2. Check sync schedule
3. Wait for next auto-sync
   • Basic: reviews update weekly
   • Advanced: reviews update daily

“Last updated” shows old date

This is normal for Free and Basic plans. Reviews sync:

• Free: Only when you click “Update reviews now”
• Basic: Once per week automatically
• Advanced: Once per day automatically

Email Issues

Test email not arriving

Symptoms:

• Clicked “Send test email”
• No email in inbox

Solutions:

1. Check spam/junk folder
   • Test emails often trigger spam filters
   • Mark as “Not spam” if found
2. Verify SMTP credentials
   • Double-check host, port, username, password
   • For Gmail, use App Password
3. Check SMTP settings
4. Try different email provider
   • Some providers block automated emails
   • Consider using SendGrid or Mailgun

Gmail: smtp.gmail.com, port 587
Outlook: smtp.office365.com, port 587
Yahoo: smtp.mail.yahoo.com, port 587

“Authentication failed” error

Causes:

• Wrong password
• Gmail 2FA requires App Password
• SMTP disabled on account

Solutions:

1. Gmail users
   • Must use App Password
   • Regular password won’t work with 2FA
2. Outlook users
   • Enable SMTP in settings
   • Check if account allows third-party apps
3. All users
   • Verify username is your full email
   • Try retyping password (don’t paste)

Variables not replaced in email

Symptoms:

• Email shows {customerName} instead of actual name
• Variables appear as-is in test email

Solutions:

1. Check variable spelling
   • Must be exactly: {customerName}, {storeName}, etc.
   • Case-sensitive
   • No spaces inside braces
2. Test email limitation
   • Test emails may show sample data
   • Real orders will have actual values

Performance Issues

Widget loading slowly

Solutions:

1. Reduce review count
   • Go to Filter reviews
   • Lower the number of reviews displayed
   • 10-20 reviews is usually sufficient
2. Check your internet
   • Slow widget may indicate network issues
3. Theme conflicts
   • Disable other apps temporarily
   • Check if issue persists

General Issues

App not loading

Symptoms:

• Blank page in Shopify admin
• Spinning loader that never stops

Solutions:

1. Refresh the page
   • Simple refresh often fixes loading issues
2. Clear browser cache
   • Hard refresh: Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac)
3. Try different browser
   • Test in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari
4. Check Shopify status
   • Visit status.shopify.com
   • There may be platform-wide issues

Something else not working?

If your issue isn’t covered here:

1. Contact Support
   • gropulse.com/contact
   • Include your store URL
   • Describe the issue in detail
   • Include screenshots if possible
2. Live Chat
   • Use the chat widget in the app
   • Available in the bottom-right corner
3. Email
   • support@gropulse.com
   • Response within 24-48 hours