Having a virtual tour on Google or 360° photos on Facebook is great for your business, but the real benefit comes from properly showcasing a virtual tour on your website. Below we compare options for embedding a virtual tour on your business website, and explain the pros and cons of each.
Virtual Tour Embed Options Compared
We will look at these three core options:
- Standard Google Street View virtual tour embed
- Custom Google Virtual Tour embed
- Matterport 3D virtual tour embed
1. Google Street View (inside) embed
Whenever we create a virtual tour for a business, we always publish it to Google. It is visible straight from the Google search results and Google Maps, as such it gets good views straight from Google. But it can also be embedded on your website. Below is an example. Embedding the Google virtual tour is straight forward, here are instructions on how to do this.
Pros:
– Free
– Familiar Google Street View navigation style
– Multi device compatible
Cons:
– No branding
– Basic
– No options for menus, hotspots, information points or including information or additional media
2. Custom Google Virtual Tour embed
A custom Google virtual tour is built upon the Google street view virtual tour. The base tour is on Google Maps, but we add custom details for embedding to your website to enhance the user experience. Typically this is your logo and a menu for faster navigation around the virtual tour and also to highlight key areas people should visit. Additional features can include hotspot/information points to explain/communicate more information – these can include text, images, video and links. Custom tours can also include audio/music, auto-rotation to stand out as different to a static image on your website and call to action buttons as well as additional HTML functionality.
Pros:
– Menu
– Branding
– Sound
– Very Customisable
– Familiar Google Street View navigation style
– Great for large or complicated businesses
– Multi device compatible
Cons:
– Can get a bit busy if you add lots of custom features
– Small monthly cost
3. Matterport 3D Virtual Tour embed
A Matterport 3D virtual tour embedded on your website provides a unique user experience. It’s strengths are the dollhouse view where people can view and interact with a 3D model of your space. Plus the video play through option which when clicked makes the tour play through like a video – but the user can take control at any point. Plus the simple click and go navigation is really user friendly.
Pros:
– Smooth navigation experience
– 3D dollhouse view
– Floorplan view
– Video play mode (play button)
– Highlight reel
– Information hotspots
– Multi device compatible
Cons:
– Limited customisation options
– Slightly limited vertical view movement
– Limitations with exterior navigation
– Requires continuity between spaces scanned within single 3D model
– Small monthly cost