Free, hyper-local, and underused — with posting limits that catch new pages off guard.
Verified August 2026.
Nextdoor is a neighborhood-based platform, which makes it unusually well-suited to businesses whose customers are geographically close: home services, contractors, real estate, local professional practices, restaurants, and retail.
It's also the platform where neighbors ask each other for name-specific recommendations. Being present when that happens is most of the value.
Free to claim. Worth thirty minutes for any local business in the complete setup guide.
Before you start
- Personal identity verification — Nextdoor verifies real people, not just businesses
- Logo at 500 × 500 px
- A real photograph of your business, team, or work
- Business name, address, phone, hours, website
Step 1: Check for an existing page
Search your business name on Nextdoor. Business pages are sometimes generated from third-party data, and neighbors may have already been recommending you against an unclaimed record.
If it exists, claim it rather than creating a new one.
Step 2: Create or claim the page
Nextdoor requires you to have a personal account tied to your actual address first, because the platform is built on verified neighborhood membership.
From there, create or claim the business page. Nextdoor verifies that you represent the business.
Step 3: Complete the page
Business name, address, phone, website, hours — matching your standard NAP.
Categories. Choose the most accurate.
Service area. If you travel to customers, define the neighborhoods you serve. This determines where your page surfaces, so it matters more here than on most platforms.
Description. Nextdoor doesn't publish a character limit. Draft to roughly 750 characters and check for truncation. (Unconfirmed.)
Step 4: Photos
| Asset | Specification |
|---|---|
| Logo/profile | 500 × 500 px, 1:1, JPG or PNG |
| Cover photo | ~1200 × 800 px landscape (Unconfirmed — verify on device) |
| Post image | 1200 × 900 px |
Published cover photo specs disagree. Sources circulate both 1156 × 650 and 600 × 400, and Nextdoor doesn't document this clearly. Upload a 1200 × 800 landscape image and check the result on your phone before considering it done.
Nextdoor explicitly recommends a real photo over a graphic — your storefront, your team, your completed work. Text-heavy images, business cards, and promotional graphics render poorly and read as advertising on a platform whose users are hostile to advertising.
This is the platform's whole character. It rewards looking like a neighbor and punishes looking like a marketer.
Step 5: Understand the posting limits
New business pages are limited to 2 free posts per month until the account establishes a presence on the platform.
This catches people who set up a page and plan a content calendar. Plan around it: make those two posts count, and don't build a strategy that depends on frequency until you know what your account allows.
Nextdoor also sells local advertising, which is a separate decision from having a free page.
Step 6: Recommendations
Nextdoor uses Recommendations rather than star ratings — neighbors vouch for you by name.
You may ask customers for recommendations on Nextdoor. Unlike Yelp, Nextdoor permits this. It's one of the more effective asks available to a local business because a recommendation from a verified neighbor carries more weight with nearby people than an anonymous review does.
Respond to recommendations. Respond to criticism calmly. Everything is visible to people who live near you and may run into you.
How to actually use it
The businesses that do well on Nextdoor are the ones that don't behave like advertisers.
What works: answering questions in neighborhood threads when someone asks about your field, without pitching. Sharing something genuinely useful — a seasonal maintenance reminder, a heads-up about a local issue you'd know about professionally. Being visibly a person who lives and works there.
What doesn't work: promotional posts, graphics with prices, replying to every thread with a sales pitch. Nextdoor users report this quickly, and the platform's culture is unforgiving about it.
The realistic goal isn't reach. It's being the name that comes up when a neighbor asks for a recommendation.
If your profession is regulated
The usual rules apply, and Nextdoor's recommendation feature is specifically a testimonial mechanism. Attorneys and investment advisers should confirm how their rules treat third-party recommendations on a platform where you may solicit them.
Medical and dental practices should be especially careful — responding to a recommendation may confirm someone is a patient, which is a HIPAA consideration regardless of how kindly the response is worded.
Common problems
Cover photo looks wrong. The specs aren't reliably documented. Verify on a phone and adjust.
Only two posts allowed. Expected for new pages. It lifts as the account establishes standing.
A post got reported. Usually it was read as advertising. Nextdoor users are quick to flag promotional content.
Can't create a business page. You need a verified personal account tied to a real address first.
Not appearing in nearby neighborhoods. Check your service area configuration.
Maintenance
- Monthly: use your posts if you have something genuinely useful; respond to recommendations
- Quarterly: verify hours, phone, service area
- Immediately: any change to hours or contact details
Next steps
The last Tier 3 platform is X, which takes about fifteen minutes.
Full checklist: the complete setup guide.
Verified August 2026. Nextdoor publishes limited public specifications; items marked Unconfirmed should be verified against field behavior during setup.