A lot of agencies hit the same wall. The customer is happy for you to manage their reviews, but they will not share their Google or Facebook password and they have no interest in logging into yet another platform. You still need a real, signed-in connection to sync reviews properly, reply on their behalf, and pull Google performance metrics.
Customer Connect Links solve that. You generate one short link, share it with the customer, and they handle the sign-in themselves on a clean page with your company name and logo. They never see the dashboard, never create an account, and never enter a password anywhere they should not.
When to reach for a connect link
#This is the right tool when you want the customer to do exactly one thing: sign in to Google or Facebook and pick their listing. You handle everything else from your side after that.
Steps and details
- The customer will not share Google or Facebook credentials, which is the right call
- You want a full Grant Access style connection, not the lighter Public Access one
- You are onboarding the customer and want to remove the friction of a platform login
- The customer is non-technical and you want the cleanest possible path for them
- You manage many locations and want a repeatable, link-based way to get each one connected
If you would rather have ongoing direct access yourself, the Manager invite approach is still a great option. Many agencies use both. Use connect links for the initial sign-in step and Manager invites when you also want long-term hands-on control of the Business Profile.
What the link actually does
#The link opens a single page with your logo at the top (or your company name if you have no logo) and your brand colours. Links from the dashboard and the invitation email open on your primary domain: your custom domain once it is set as primary under Platform -> White-Label -> Domains, otherwise your platform address (yourname.app.embedmyreviews.com). With white-label on or a custom theme set, the page carries your brand only.
Steps and details
From there the customer signs in to Google or Facebook directly, grants the permissions you need to sync reviews and reply, picks the correct Business Profile or Facebook Page, and lands on a short success page. That is the whole flow.
- The customer signs in on Google or Facebook, not on your platform
- Each link works for one location and one provider, so you stay in control of where the connection lands
- When the customer picks the right listing, the connection is the full Grant Access style integration. Reviews sync, replies work, auto-respond is available, Google performance metrics are included, and Google Business Profile posts can be published
- When the customer's plan includes Publishing, the page tells them the access covers reviews and posts, and that every post is approved by a person before it goes out
- There is no account creation, no password to remember, and no dashboard to navigate
What the link covers
#A connect link does one job: it gives your platform a signed-in connection for one location, made on the customer's own Google or Facebook account.
Steps and details
- For Google posts, the link is all the customer needs. The sign-in asks Google for access to manage their Business Profile, which covers reviews and posts. You then click
Turn On Publishingfor the location - The connection lives in your platform. To also give your agency Google account direct access to the Business Profile, add a Manager invite
- The customer signs in with the Google account that owns or manages the Business Profile, or the Facebook account that manages the Page, and picks it from their own list
- It is a one-time setup link: single use, valid for seven days by default, and you can revoke it at any time
- It follows the location's review source limit. If the location is full, you see it before the link is created, so the customer never meets a dead end. A link for a platform the location already has always works, because it replaces that connection
Where to generate a connect link
#There are three places to start the flow, depending on where you are in the customer relationship.
Steps and details · includes a table
The Get a customer connect link option only appears for agency owners and sales agents, including when they are impersonating a customer. Regular customer users do not see it, which keeps the flow scoped to the people doing the onboarding work.
| Starting point | Best for | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Connect modal on a location | A customer that already exists and needs a connection added or replaced | Switch into the customer, open the location, go to Connect -> Integrations -> Sources, click Google or Facebook, then click Get a customer connect link |
| Create Customer modal | A brand new customer where you want to send everything together | When creating the customer, toggle Send Google Business Profile link and Send Facebook page link as needed |
| White-label API | Automated onboarding from your CRM, signup flow, or internal tools | Call the create customer endpoint with send_google_connect_link or send_facebook_connect_link set to true |
This is a customer-side screen. Because you are in your agency account, you can reach it two ways: go to Business -> Customers -> Manage Customers and click Open dashboard on the customer: you go into their dashboard with nothing locked, even features their plan hides, and a bar at the top shows whose dashboard you are in (handy for done-for-you setups or granting access beyond a plan); or choose View as customer on the same page to see their dashboard exactly as they see it, with their plan's limits. If your sidebar shows the Agency / Customer switcher, the Customer tab plus the location switcher is a shortcut to the same place.
What the customer sees on their end
#The customer flow is intentionally short. The goal is to remove every step that is not strictly required.
Steps and details
- They click the link and land on a clean page with your logo and brand colours
- They see a clear explanation of what you are asking for and a single call-to-action button
- They are sent through the standard Google or Facebook sign-in, where they choose the right account themselves
- After granting permissions, they pick the matching Business Profile or Facebook Page from a list
- They land on a short success page confirming the connection is live
Because the sign-in happens directly on Google or Facebook, the customer is doing exactly what they would do for any other connected app. That is usually the framing that puts hesitant customers at ease.
Security, scope, and what a link can actually do
#Connect links are designed to be safe to share inside normal customer communication, but it is still worth understanding the guardrails.
Steps and details
- Each link is locked to one location and one provider. A Google link cannot accidentally connect Facebook, and a link for one location cannot land on another
- Links expire after seven days by default. After that the page tells the customer the link is no longer active and asks them to request a new one
- Links are single use. Once a customer completes the flow, the same link will not connect anything else
- Links can be revoked at any time from the same modal where they were generated. Revoking a link makes the page show an expired state immediately
- Every issue, start, completion, and revoke is recorded against the token so you have a clean audit trail per customer
- Public connect pages are rate limited so the endpoints cannot be abused, even with a leaked link
Reconnecting a customer later
#Connections occasionally need to be refreshed, usually after a Google password change, a permission update, or a Facebook session timeout. The reconnect flow uses the exact same mechanism.
Steps and details
- Open the same Connect modal on the location that needs to be reconnected
- Generate a fresh link. Any earlier active link for that location and provider is revoked automatically so there is no confusion about which one to use
- Send the new link to the customer. They follow the same short flow and the connection is back online
You do not need to delete the existing integration before sending a reconnect link. Completing the new flow replaces the old credentials cleanly and re-runs the initial sync so the data is fresh.
Sending links automatically when you create customers
#If you onboard customers from your own systems, the white-label API can send Google and Facebook links for you at the moment a customer is created.
Steps and details
- Call
POST /api/agency/v1/customerswith the normal customer payload - Set
send_google_connect_linktotrueto issue and email a Google link to the customer - Set
send_facebook_connect_linktotrueto issue and email a Facebook link to the customer - The two flags are independent, so you can send one, both, or neither
API-issued links use the same security model as links generated from the dashboard. They are single use, scoped to one location and one provider, and expire after seven days unless revoked sooner.
If something looks off
#The customer says the link is expired: generate a fresh one. The old link is revoked automatically so they will not pick the wrong one out of their inbox
Steps and details
- The customer signs in but cannot see the right business: they are almost always signed into the wrong Google or Facebook account. Ask them to switch accounts and reopen the link
- The customer completes the flow but reviews are not appearing yet: the initial sync runs in the background. Give it a short window and check again. If reviews still do not appear, the most common cause is the wrong listing being picked from the list
- Google performance metrics still say permission denied after a successful connect: the signed-in Google account needs the right Business Profile access level. The Manager invite guide covers this in detail and is linked below
- The email never arrives: confirm the email address is correct on the customer record and check whether your white-label email provider is healthy. The copy-link option is always available as a fallback