Chris Silversmith noticed that Google has updated its Google Maps and contributed to the content policy. They removed a line that prohibited the review-gating and it was “don’t discourage or prohibit negative reviews or solicit the positive reviews from the customers”.
Chris Word on Twitter:
It appears that Google has removed its policy that specifically banned review-gating. Compare the Dec’21 copy of the policy with the current.
Google is trying to remove the review gating policy on Google maps as it refers to any attempt to dissuade customers from leaving bad reviews. They also encourage them to leave the good ones. The ban on review gating was just to improve the quality of reviews and also make them reliable. The initial appearance does not seem like the removal of this policy is not the same as the business-oriented had thought. The federal trade commission has also cracked down the review gating and it means that they have a policy on this less useful for google. Google also has a separate fake engagement policy, which is as follows:
- Content that has been posted from multiple accounts to manipulate a place’s rating.
- Content that has been posted by a competitor to undermine a business or product’s reputation. content that has been incentivized by a business in exchange for discounts, free goods, and services.
- Content that is not based on real experience and does not accurately represent the location or product in question.
- Paying to incentivize or encourage the posting of content that does not represent a genuine experience.