First and foremost: local businesses belong on Nextdoor
Local businesses are part of neighborhoods, and helping them thrive on Nextdoor has been one of our biggest priorities this year. In 2026, we've made Business Pages more prominent and easier to use, we're revamping our annual Faves Awards program that will go live this Fall, and we've made businesses more discoverable. Today, we're going deep into another piece of that work: an update to our self-promotion policy.
A better balance between neighbors and local businesses
Nextdoor works best when the main feed feels like your neighborhood: a recommendation for a great plumber, a heads-up about a road closure, a post about a neighborhood lemonade stand.
For years, one of the most consistent pieces of feedback we’ve heard from neighbors is that self-promotion in the main feed (neighbors promoting their own businesses) has tipped into spam and gotten in the way of their neighborhood feed. We listened and made a policy change that balances what neighbors need from Nextdoor to stay useful with what businesses need to build their local reputation and drive business success.
What has changed
Promoting a business, service, or paid opportunity can still happen on Nextdoor but it must be done from a free Business Page, not a personal neighbor account. For the last few years, businesses have increasingly used neighbor accounts to post promotional content from personal accounts rather than Business Pages. That includes posts and comments in the main feed, as well as unsolicited direct messages. Businesses can still use Nextdoor to share about their business, they just need to post from a business page — that is the whole change.
What this means for businesses
Businesses succeed on Nextdoor when neighbors promote them, not when they promote themselves.
Local businesses aren't what needs fixing. They're part of what makes a neighborhood and Nextdoor great. What needed fixing was the blurring between neighbor accounts and business promotion. A personal account represents you as a neighbor. A Business Page represents your business, with its own reviews and its own way for neighbors to find you.
This distinction helps businesses. A passing mention in someone else's post is easy to miss, but a Business Page sticks around: neighbors can find it, Fave it, and see all a business’s reviews and posts in one place, any time, not just the day you posted. You can also earn Faves, a great way to show neighbors love your business. The more Faves you earn, the more likely you are to show up in Search.
If you regularly promote a paid service, including freelance work, side gigs, and home-based businesses, you're as welcome on Nextdoor as ever.
Claiming your Business Page is free, posting from it is free, and verification takes just a minute. Your personal profile stays exactly as it is, and you can switch between your Personal Account and Business Account whenever you need to.
Opportunity Alerts remain an optional paid subscription some home-service businesses use to get notified about neighbors' requests, and Nextdoor Ads are a separate optional product. Neither is affected by this policy change.
Millions of businesses have already claimed their Business Page on Nextdoor, and we hope you'll give yours a try.
What this means for neighbors
Nothing about your Nextdoor changes. Asking who to call, recommending a business you love, posting a garage sale, or selling a couch are all still welcome from your personal account. Casual, occasional offers are fine too: babysitting, dog walking, or selling handmade items can be posted up to once a month, under your own name. You're just being a neighbor, not running a business, and this policy change, along with many product improvements released this year, is part of making Nextdoor better for local businesses. This policy does not apply to Nextdoor Groups, where admins decide what promotion is welcome in their community. Nonprofit and community posts (school bake sales, community meetings, fundraisers) are also welcome in the main feed up to once a week.
Our system does look at patterns rather than perfection, so a neighbor recommending the same business a little too enthusiastically can occasionally get flagged in error. If a post is flagged, it isn't deleted. It stays up exactly as you posted it, and you'll always get a notice if your post is flagged – an email and a banner on the post itself – and fewer neighbors will see it. If your post is mistakenly flagged, contact support and ask for a review – we're glad to take a look.
Change is never easy, but we believe in the long term plan
This change is still being fine-tuned, but it only happened because neighbors and businesses spoke up about what you want Nextdoor to be. We believe deeply that local businesses are integral to the success of local communities, and this policy change, along with many product improvements released this year, is part of making Nextdoor better for local businesses.
We're grateful for your feedback, and we're not done listening. We'll keep working to make Nextdoor better for neighbors and businesses – and we hope you'll keep telling us how we're doing.
For the details, see the Self-Promotional Policy FAQs or the full policy. See more at Claim or create your Business Page.
