Google bans posting negative reviews of former employers

Google has updated its guidelines under which the company has now banned the posting of negative reviews by former employees about their former workplace on its business tool. Google said it considers this practice to be a "conflict of interest". Previously, employees were allowed to post any kind of review of places they used to work at.

The move will also make more accurate reviews that people post on Google My Business -- a tool behind the rating that appears on-screen when you carry out a search for a business using the search engine or its maps. The tech giant said posting negative reviews about former employers has the potential to damage a company's reputation in the eyes of an actual customer and were difficult to remove.

"Maps user-contributed content is most valuable when it is honest and unbiased; posting negative content about a current or former employment experience" is not allowed, The Independent quoted the company as saying.

The new policy means that Google is serious about trying to cut out the clutter and only have legitimate and helpful reviews. Prior to this policy, users had to submit reports and requests to Google to take down these reviews, which was apparently hit or miss, since Google did not have a guideline for them.

The new feature may be a significant one for businesses. Businesses can directly contact Google to remove any negative reviews which may hurt the company's reputation and improve the company's ratings of businesses.