Google Business View

What Is Google Business View?

Whether we are shopping for a car, a dinner reservation, event tickets, or vacations, the Internet has changed how we decide to buy. Google answers over 100 billion searches in a single month. Each search presents a new opportunity to reach consumers when they’re most engaged.

Recently Google has allowed business owners hire a “Google Trusted Photographer” to come to their store or office, take a bunch of photos, and splice them together into a 360-degree virtual tour. That tour is called Google Business View.

These virtual tours work great for all types of businesses, but they are especially ideal for hotels, restaurants, retail stores, recreation venues, museums, and other public venues with a physical location open to the public.

Examples

Here are a handful of the many examples we have produced for our clients to show the kind of immersive experience that 360-virtual tours provide. Pro Tip: Enlarge the virtual tours to fill the screen for a more immersive experience. (Desktop: click on the square in the upper right. Handheld: click on "View on Google Maps")

Rodizio Grill Restaurant at Trolley Square, Salt Lake City UT

Performance Honda of Bountiful Used Car Lot

Sunrise Over Mount Everest in the Himalayas

Benefits

There are many compelling reasons why you should seriously consider Google Business View. Here are a couple of the main ones.

1. Get Discovered

Your Google virtual tour will appear in more than Google Maps, it will also be shown in organic Google searches and on your Google+ Local page. Additionally, you virtual tour can also be embedded to your webpages and social media outlets such as Facebook. With three access points to your virtual tour (organic search, Google+, Google Maps) it’s nearly impossible for Google users to miss it!

Real World Results: Within the first month of adding a new virtual tour that we created, a single restaurant location had already received over 16,000 views! That's nearly a quarter of a million views per year! And every day that you don't have a virtual tour, you are missing out on this massive exposure and the sales that result from it.

2. Attract More Customers

97% of people search for local businesses before making a decision. Google Business View offers a significant advantage over your competitors by providing your potential customers that extra level of confidence by allowing them to see inside. It’s a fact, images have a significant impact to a person’s decision making when searching for local businesses. Supplying a virtual tour sets you apart from your competitors and provides an experience that’s informative and entertaining.

3. Convert More Customers

Studies show that 59% of customers visit a business within the same day of their search and 18% of local searches lead to a purchase within the same day.

Consider the New York City Restaurant Week case study where 84% of the 1300 surveyed customers said Google Business View played a factor in their restaurant choice. Or, the Leeke’s case study that showed a 20% increase to in-store traffic the year following the creation of their Google virtual tour. Google Business View virtual tours drive more business and increase your bottom line.

4. Drive Engagement and Encourage Positive Reviews

Naturally, you will benefit from the increased interaction your business listing receives as the virtual tour drives more traffic. This increase in engagement, in turn, results in better search results and more reviews of your business. With a virtual tour your customer knows what to expect before they visit and is less likely to have a disappointing experience or to feel misled. Customers who feel like their expectations were met or exceeded tend to leave positive reviews.

5. It’s Simply Affordable

Google Business View may be one of the most inexpensive virtual tour products on the market. The best thing is that there’s no “catch”. Google hosts the tour for you at no cost – forever. There is no question of the cost-benefit as there are no recurring fees and the upfront cost for most businesses is usually well under $2,000 (as low as $600 for small businesses)... a small price to pay for something with a limitless return!