Nextdoor Business Page: How to Set It Up and Earn Recommendations

A Nextdoor business page is a free profile that lets a local business appear on Nextdoor, the neighborhood network, where neighbors can find it, recommend it and see its updates. To use it well, claim or create the page, fill in accurate details, ask real customers who are on Nextdoor to recommend you, reply to comments and criticism calmly, and report only content that breaks Nextdoor’s guidelines. Recommendations on Nextdoor come from neighbors who have verified where they live, so they are hard to manufacture, and trying to do so tends to backfire in a very public way.

This guide is for local businesses that depend on nearby customers: trades, salons, restaurants, clinics, gyms, pet services, real estate agents and anyone whose customers live within a few miles.

How Nextdoor is different from other review sites

Most review sites are built around star ratings from strangers. Nextdoor is built around neighbors. Members join a specific neighborhood, and Nextdoor asks them to verify that they live there. When someone asks “can anyone recommend a good electrician?”, the answers come from people nearby, and those answers are often the first place a new customer hears your name.

That has two effects. First, word of mouth moves quickly: one detailed recommendation can reach a lot of households in your area. Second, criticism moves just as quickly, and it often shows up in a neighbor’s post rather than on your own page, where you have less control over the thread.

On Nextdoor, feedback about businesses has generally taken the form of recommendations, a neighbor endorsing a business and saying why, rather than star ratings. Nextdoor also runs an annual Neighborhood Faves recognition based on recommendations. Features change, so check Nextdoor’s current business help pages for how recommendations and ratings display today.

Nextdoor is one of several local platforms worth claiming. Our overview of sites like Angie’s List compares it with Google, Yelp, Thumbtack, Houzz and the BBB. Our guides to Thumbtack profiles and reviews and reviews on Houzz cover two of them in more depth.

Step 1: Claim or create your Nextdoor business page

1. Search for your business first. Neighbors may already have mentioned or recommended you, and Nextdoor may have a page for your business built from those mentions. Claim it rather than creating a duplicate.
2. Use Nextdoor’s business sign-up and follow the prompts to verify that you own or represent the business. The verification method can vary.
3. Enter accurate details. Your business name, address or service area, phone, website and hours should match your Google Business Profile and website exactly.
4. Choose the right category. Neighbors browse by category, and a wrong one means you’re missing from the searches that matter.
5. Add a clear description and real photos. Your storefront, your team, your work. A short, plain description beats marketing copy.
6. Set up notifications so you know when someone recommends you, comments or mentions your business.

Your personal Nextdoor account and your business page are separate. Keep them that way: use the business page to speak as the business, and don’t use your personal account to promote the business in neighborhood threads in ways that break Nextdoor’s guidelines. If you ever want to leave personally, our guide on how to delete a Nextdoor account explains how business pages are handled.

Step 2: Earn genuine recommendations

Recommendations work best when they come naturally from customers who actually used you. Your job is to remind happy and not-so-happy customers alike that you’re on Nextdoor and make it easy to find you.

• Ask at the end of the service. “If you’re on Nextdoor, a recommendation from a neighbor really helps a local business like ours” is enough.
• Share your page link. Nextdoor provides a way to share your business page or ask for recommendations. Add it to your follow-up email, invoice or receipt.
• Ask everyone, not only the fans. Screening customers first and only inviting the happiest is review gating. Our guide on review gating explains why it’s a problem.
• Keep requests to one platform at a time. A message asking for a Google review, a Facebook recommendation and a Nextdoor recommendation all at once usually gets none of them. (Leave Yelp out entirely: Yelp asks businesses not to request reviews.)

Here is a short follow-up you might send:

Thanks again for having us out this week. If you use Nextdoor, we’d appreciate an honest recommendation. Neighbors tell us they find local businesses there. Here’s our page: [link]. Either way, we’re always glad to hear how we did.

What not to do

• Recommend your own business from a personal account, or ask employees and relatives to do it.
• Offer a discount or freebie in exchange for a recommendation.
• Create extra accounts to join a thread and praise yourself.
• Pay people to recommend you in neighborhoods where they don’t live.

Beyond breaking Nextdoor’s rules, these are the kinds of practices the FTC’s 2024 rule on consumer reviews targets, including fake reviews and undisclosed insider endorsements. Our guide to the FTC fake review rule explains what it covers. On a neighborhood network, fake praise is also easy to spot: neighbors notice when the same three people keep recommending the same plumber.

Step 3: Post useful updates, sparingly

A business page can share posts with nearby neighbors. Useful posts are ones a neighbor would be glad to see: seasonal reminders, a change in hours, a local event you’re part of, a helpful tip related to your trade. Nextdoor also offers paid options for promoting offers and ads. Check the current business terms before you use them.

Keep the tone neighborly, not salesy. A roofer who posts “we’re seeing a lot of loose shingles after last night’s wind, here’s how to check yours safely from the ground” earns more goodwill than one who posts a discount every week.

Step 4: Reply to comments and criticism

Criticism on Nextdoor often appears in a neighbor’s post rather than on your page: “Has anyone else had trouble with this landscaper?” Replies from other neighbors can pile on quickly. The right response is usually quick, calm and brief.

1. Read the whole thread first. Understand what actually happened before you respond.
2. Reply as the business, where Nextdoor allows businesses to respond in that context, and identify yourself clearly.
3. Acknowledge the problem without arguing about every detail.
4. Offer a private route to fix it: a phone number, email or direct message.
5. Follow through, and if it’s resolved, it’s fine to post a short update in the thread.

Hi, this is Maria, owner of Greenway Lawn Care. I’m sorry our crew missed your mowing day last week, that shouldn’t have happened. I’ve sent you a direct message so we can get it sorted this week. Anyone else with a missed visit, please reach me directly at the number on our page.

Don’t reveal a customer’s address, bill or other private details, don’t accuse them of lying, and don’t ask friends to jump into the thread to defend you. Our guide on how to respond to negative reviews covers tone in more depth.

Step 5: Report content that breaks the rules

Nextdoor has community guidelines covering things like discrimination, harassment, misinformation and publicly shaming people. If a post or comment about your business breaks those rules, use the report option on it and choose the reason that fits. Content that may qualify includes posts that:

• Share someone’s personal information, such as a staff member’s home address.
• Contain threats, hate speech or harassment.
• Appear to come from a competitor posing as a neighbor.
• Make claims about your business that are clearly about a different company.

Moderation on Nextdoor involves both the company and local community reviewers, and a neighbor’s honest bad experience generally stays up. If a post makes specific false statements of fact that are seriously damaging, talk to a lawyer before you respond further. Our guide on defamation vs opinion explains the general distinction.

A worked example: a neighborhood bakery

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client. A new bakery opens on a small shopping street. A neighbor posts on Nextdoor that the bakery was out of bread by 10 a.m. two Saturdays in a row, and several neighbors agree.

1. The owner claims the bakery’s Nextdoor business page, which already exists from earlier mentions, and fills in accurate hours and photos.
2. She replies in the thread as the business, thanks the neighbors for coming in, explains they underestimated weekend demand and says they’re now baking a second batch on Saturdays.
3. She posts a short update on the business page with the new Saturday schedule.
4. She adds a small card at the counter mentioning that the bakery is on Nextdoor and would welcome honest recommendations.

The original thread stays up, but it now ends with the owner’s reply and a neighbor noting that the Saturday stock has improved. Over time, new recommendations begin to appear on the page, several mentioning that the owner listened.

Common mistakes with a Nextdoor business page

• Never claiming the page. Neighbors talk about you whether or not you’re there.
• Self-recommending. It’s against the rules, and neighbors notice.
• Over-posting promotions. Constant sales posts get muted or ignored.
• Arguing in threads. A public debate with a neighbor rarely ends well for a business.
• Treating Nextdoor as the only channel. Most people will also check your Google reviews, so keep your Google Business Profile active too.

Local reputation usually spans Nextdoor, Google, Yelp and social media at once. Our small business reputation management page covers that bigger picture, and our review management service can set up request and reply routines across platforms.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Nextdoor business page free?

Creating and claiming a Nextdoor business page is free. Nextdoor also sells advertising and promotion options for businesses, which are optional. Check Nextdoor’s current business pages for what’s included.

Can I remove a negative post about my business on Nextdoor?

You can’t delete a neighbor’s post yourself. If it breaks Nextdoor’s community guidelines, for example by sharing personal information or containing harassment, you can report it. An honest bad experience generally stays up, so a calm, public reply and a private fix are usually the best response.

Can I recommend my own business on Nextdoor?

No. Recommending your own business, or asking employees and family to do so, breaks Nextdoor’s guidelines and can mislead neighbors. Ask real customers who use Nextdoor for honest recommendations instead.

Do Nextdoor recommendations help my Google ranking?

Not directly. Nextdoor recommendations don’t count toward your Google rating. They do help neighbors find and trust you, and your Nextdoor page may appear when people search your business name, so it’s worth keeping both profiles accurate and active.