Google Chat, Google Spaces and Google Sites

Many Google Sites aficionados, Google Workspace administrators and Internal Communications staff have expressed a keen interest in the combined powers of Chat and Sites. Google Sites provides mostly static wiki-type content, while Chat, in particular Spaces, enables organizations to have a internal chat room experience. Google Spaces can also be used for company announcements and easily pings notifications to employees. 

Can You Add Google Live Chat Widget to Google Sites?

No. There has never been support to embed Google Chat or Gmail into Sites, even in Classic Google Sites. Perhaps there are security concerns with such a move. Live chat widgets can use the Embed Code feature, but can look clunky. These don't take advantage of the Google ecosystem for notifications, at least off the bat.

Can You Embed Google Spaces into a Google Sites Intranet?

Yes. As of May 10, 2025, we are happy to announce that we have developed a custom application which allows for Google Spaces messages to be integrated into Google Sites for intranet. To learn all the details about this Google Chat API powered app, visit the full Chat app page called Google Spaces embed for Google Sites.

On the other hand, there is still no official implementation connecting Google Chat and Sites. The app we developed is read only. So, currently Google Spaces are not embeddable in the fullest sense. They cannot be added as a gadget or iframed into a internal Google Site. This was confirmed to be off the Google Workspace roadmap scope in February, 2024 according to a webinar regarding Google Currents. This move was debated by Google Sites users on the Google Workspace community forums and proposed as a new feature idea to be considered. This is part of the reason we deploy a custom application as a stop-gap solution for our intranet clients.

Google Currents and Google Plus Communities could previously be integrated into Google Sites. Easy embedding was supported at the time, similar to adding Google Cloud Search, Awesome Table and other apps like Google Groups forums. Therefore, there is a currently a vacuum for this feature which many reason ought to be filled. It would certainly aid in bridging the gap between static and dynamic information available in Google Workspace, a platform noted for collaboration options.

Alternative Solutions

• Our Google Spaces announcements widget

• You can link directly to specific Google Spaces from your Google Sites intranet

• You can develop a custom Google Sites announcements widget powered by Google Sheets (example)