Google Street View: Virtual Tours For Your Business

Picture it: Sicily, 1922.

Or maybe 2007 in Mountain View, California, when Google first rolled out the earliest version of what we now know as Google Street View.

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past two decades years (or who still use Tom-Tom GPS), Google Street View is a feature within Google Maps and Google Earth that lets users explore real-world locations through interactive, 360-degree panoramic imagery.

These stitched panoramas are captured using specialized cameras mounted to cars and other mobile platforms, giving users a true street-level view of cities, neighborhoods and destinations around the world. Most people use Street View to get familiar with a location before visiting it in person. But it didn’t take long for Google to realize that people didn’t just want to look at businesses. They wanted to step inside them.

That’s where Google’s indoor Street View came in. Originally launched as Google Business Photos, the program has since evolved into what’s commonly referred to as Google 360 Virtual Tours — immersive walkthroughs published directly to a business’s Google Business Profile and visible across Google Maps and Search.

The goal was to bring people (virtually) off the street and into shops, restaurants, hotels and attractions directly from Google Maps. It was — and still is — a brilliant, intuitive way to showcase a space on a platform used by over a billion people every month.

Google 360 Tours: a Short History

Google Business Photos debuted in 2010 in approximately 30 cities across the U.S., Asia and Australia. Google relied on a network of nationwide photographers to kick off the project, aiming to map the interiors of every city and town.

As the project expanded, Google brought on agencies with a nationwide footprint to grow the program exponentially. CS3 Photography was the first agency selected to become a Google Trusted Agency. We began marketing the service and performing shoots in South Florida from 2011 to 2012, quickly expanding into the Southeast and eventually spreading to the rest of the U.S., Canada and parts of the Caribbean.

Why Use a Google Virtual Tour?

Highlight What Customers Care About

Your customers know what they want to see most. A virtual tour gives them control over where the camera points, allowing them to personalize their experience of your business.

In today’s digital age, researching just about anything happens online before ever seeing a product or visiting a store. The same goes for home buying. In fact, reports show that 92% of prospective home buyers research homes on the internet before contacting an agent. The immersive format allows you to show off more of your living spaces, rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms than possible through normal photos.

The same applies to hotels, restaurants, retail spaces, gyms and attractions. A 360 tour allows you to showcase amenities, atmosphere and scale — and even highlight unique surroundings like waterfronts, mountain views or architectural details.

Appeal to Experience-Driven Buyers

Younger buyers and travelers continue to prioritize experiences and authenticity when choosing where to spend their money. Virtual tours meet that expectation by letting people preview a space on their own terms.

Interactive content consistently outperforms static media when it comes to engagement. Businesses that offer virtual tours often see higher click-through rates, longer time spent on listings and more qualified inquiries, because customers already know what to expect.

In short: people who tour your space online arrive more confident and more ready to convert.

Save You (and Your Customers) Time

Google tours remove a significant barrier: time. With the option to tour your facilities immediately online, customers have 24/7 access. Your products and services are ready for panoramic viewing anytime, anywhere.

For business owners, this saves time on inquiries and appointments. It cuts down on hours spent giving tours to leads that might not be a good fit, while simultaneously warming up serious leads who are ready to buy because they’ve “already been there.”

Increase Your Visibility Online

A virtual tour on your website is an excellent way to wow customers, but Google rewards you for it, too. Businesses with Google virtual tours have a 16% higher chance of appearing in Google Search or Google Maps, meaning more customers will be able to find your business. The more content you have for Google to index, the easier it is for them (and your customers) to find you.

More importantly, users spend more time engaging with listings that include immersive content, sending positive signals to Google about relevance and quality. Statistics show that websites and listings with virtual tours keep users engaged 5 to 10 times longer. This “dwell time” signals to search engines that your content is valuable, reducing your bounce rate and boosting your local SEO rankings.

Creating the Tour

The process of creating Google 360 virtual tours is designed to be non-invasive and painless. While consumer-grade “instant 360” cameras have improved over the years, CS3 Photography continues to use full-frame, high-resolution DSLR cameras. Why? Because image clarity matters. We capture the space in high fidelity, ensuring everything from floor to ceiling is crisp and professional, and can generally complete the shoot within a 2-hour timespan.

The customer has just one responsibility: prepping the space. We generally recommend removing clutter, hiding trash cans and ensuring all lights are functioning for a bright, inviting result.

Once the photographer wraps the shoot, the raw images are sent to our offices in Orlando, Florida. Our in-house team of editors stitches the imagery like a complex puzzle, connecting the dots to create a seamless virtual walkthrough. Once published, the tour goes “live” on your Google Listing, allowing anyone in the world to step inside your business.

Show Off Your Business With Google 360 Tours

Google 360 Virtual Tours remain one of the most effective ways to showcase the beauty and offerings of a business on a platform utilized daily by millions. CS3 Photography has provided these tours for nearly 15 years, and we are just as passionate about this technology today as we were back in 2011.

We encourage you to visit our Google Street View Virtual Tours page to learn more and to get started on setting up an appointment to bring this service to your business.