Importing your Google reviews
Importing brings the reviews your customers already wrote on Google onto your Kudo page, so your page is not empty on day one. Google import is available on every plan, including Free.
Your customers wrote these reviews on Google. Kudo fetches them through a review data provider — it does not write, edit or generate reviews.
Importing your Google reviews
- Go to
Dashboard → Import. - Choose Google and search for your business by name and city.
- Pick your business from the list. Kudo shows the address and star rating so you can tell two branches apart.
- Choose a minimum star rating, or leave it on all ratings.
- Start the import. It runs in the background — you can keep working, and Kudo tells you when it finishes.
- Go to
Dashboard → Kudosand publish the reviews you want on your page.
When do imported reviews appear on my page?
That depends on automatic publishing, the same setting that decides it for reviews left on your form.
With automatic publishing off, which is how every page starts, they do not appear on their own. Every imported review arrives waiting for your approval, and shows on getkudo.co/your-business only after you publish it in Dashboard → Kudos. That makes importing safe to try: nothing reaches your public page until you decide it should.
With automatic publishing on, imported reviews at or above your rating appear straight away. Those below it wait in your queue for 3 days and are then published too, unless you publish or discard them first. The 3 days are counted from when the review reached Kudo, not from the date it was written on Google, and never from before you turned automatic publishing on.
Why did only some of my Google reviews come over?
Four things reduce the number, and Kudo reports all four when the import finishes:
| What the number means | Why |
|---|---|
| Imported | New reviews now waiting for your approval. |
| No written review | The customer left stars on Google and typed nothing. Kudo does not import these. |
| Below your rating filter | You chose a minimum star rating and these were under it. |
| Already in Kudo | You imported these before. Kudo does not add them twice. |
The first one surprises most people. A profile with 49 Google reviews can import a handful, because star-only ratings are a number rather than a review, and a wall of numbers is not a wall of reviews.
On Pro and AI Pro, Kudo imports up to your 200 newest Google reviews in one run, and brings in newer ones as they arrive. On Free it imports your 5 newest reviews that have something written in them, because 5 is how many a Free page publishes.
Does Kudo import new Google reviews automatically?
On Pro and AI Pro, yes. Once you have imported from Google, Kudo checks your Google profile again on its own every 6 hours, so new reviews arrive without you opening anything. A sync pulls only what is new since the last one, so it never duplicates what you already have. You can set it to check as often as every hour in Dashboard → Integrations, and the same screen connects review sources beyond Google, such as Trustpilot and Tripadvisor.
If you do not want to wait, open Dashboard → Import and run Sync Google Reviews. Kudo shows when you last synced.
On the Free plan, no. Free imports your Google reviews once, and new Google reviews do not come in after that, on a schedule or by hand. Keeping them up to date is what Pro adds, and it starts on its own the moment you upgrade.
Can I import only my best reviews?
Yes. The import lets you set a minimum star rating — 4 stars and above, for example — and Kudo skips everything below it. The setting is remembered for your next sync.
Two things worth knowing before you set it high. A profile of nothing but 5-star reviews reads as filtered to most shoppers, and a page that hides every 3-star review loses the detail that makes the good ones believable.
Can I edit an imported review?
No. An imported review is your customer's own writing, and Kudo keeps it as they wrote it.
What you can do is choose whether it appears: publish it, hide it again later, or delete it from your Kudo page.
⚠️ Deleting a review in Kudo cannot be undone. If you might want it back, hide it instead — hiding takes it off your page and keeps it in your dashboard.
Does deleting a review in Kudo change anything on Google?
No. Your Kudo page and your Google profile are separate. Deleting, hiding or reordering a review in Kudo does not touch Google, and your customer's review stays exactly where they left it.
The reverse is also true: a review deleted on Google stays on your Kudo page until you remove it there.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Kudo cannot find your business | The search matches the name on your Google Business Profile, not your legal or trading name | Search the name exactly as it appears on Google Maps, and add your city |
| The import finished with 0 reviews | Every review was star-only, or your rating filter excluded all of them | Run it again with the filter set to all ratings |
| Imported reviews are not on your page | They are waiting for approval | Publish them in Dashboard → Kudos |
| A second import added nothing | Those reviews are already in Kudo | Nothing to fix — Kudo matched them and skipped them |
| A second import on Free is refused | Free imports Google once | Upgrade to Pro to bring in new reviews, or delete the imported Google reviews to import a different business |
| The import stops with a service error | The review data provider is temporarily unavailable | Wait a few minutes and run it again; nothing you already imported is lost |
Frequently asked questions
Does Kudo write reviews for me?
No. Every review on your Kudo page was written by a customer — on Google, or through your own review form. Kudo never generates review text.
Is Google import included in the Free plan?
Yes, once. On Free, Kudo imports your 5 newest written Google reviews, which is how many a Free page publishes. CSV import and manual entry are also on Free, with no limit on how many reviews you keep. Bringing in new Google reviews after the first import is on Pro.
Do I have to log in to Google?
No. Kudo finds your business from your public Google Business Profile, so there is no Google login and no access to your account.
Can I import reviews from Facebook, Trustpilot or Yelp?
Trustpilot can be connected directly in Dashboard → Integrations on Pro and AI Pro. Facebook and Yelp cannot be connected directly. On any plan you can bring reviews in with a CSV file from Dashboard → Import.
Will my customers know I imported their review?
No. Nothing is sent to them. Your Kudo page shows the review with the source it came from, if you have that turned on.
Can I take a review down after I have published it?
Yes. Hiding a published review removes it from your page and from your website widget, and keeps it in your dashboard so you can put it back.
Still need help?
Email support@getkudo.co with your business name and roughly how many reviews you expected, and we will look at the import with you.