Nextdoor Business Pages and Recommendations: A Guide for Local Businesses

By the Expert Reputation team · Updated September 30, 2026

On Nextdoor, "reviews" are called recommendations. Neighbors write them on your business page or tag your page in a post, and they appear under What neighbors say. There are no star ratings. The more recommendations you have across neighborhoods, the more neighbors see your page. This guide covers how to claim and verify your page, how recommendations work, how to earn them within the rules, how to reply, and what Nextdoor will and won't take down.

Why Nextdoor matters for local service businesses

Nextdoor is built around neighborhoods, and much of the activity is people asking "who's a good plumber / landscaper / dentist / mechanic near here?" That makes it especially relevant for home services, auto repair, and local practices such as chiropractors, massage therapists and dental offices. Nextdoor says recommendations come only from Nextdoor neighbors, and its Community Guidelines ask members to use their real name and identity.

How to claim or create your Nextdoor business page

Nextdoor creates business pages automatically for local businesses, so neighbors may already be tagging you. According to Nextdoor's help center:

• Logged in: search for your business. If a page exists, use the claim link near the top. If you don't see a claim option, the page may already be claimed.
• No page yet: select your profile icon, then Add business page. Nextdoor checks for an existing unclaimed page and offers it to you if one matches.
• Logged out: you can claim or create a page through Nextdoor's business signup and create a separate account.

Nextdoor advises against linking the business page to your personal neighbor account if you plan to share the business login with employees.

Verifying the page

After claiming, you can verify. Verified pages show a Verified checkmark and can publish business posts. Without verification, messaging and advertising options may be limited depending on your region. For U.S. businesses, accepted documents include a government-issued business license or permit, a business tax registration, an IRS EIN confirmation letter or tax notice, articles of organization, or a business credit report. A fictitious business name statement can be added if you operate under a DBA. The business name on the document must match your page name exactly, including punctuation.

How Nextdoor recommendations work

• Two ways to recommend: a neighbor can write a recommendation on your business page (they're prompted after they Fave you, or can use the "What do you love about this business?" box), or tag your page with an @mention in a post or comment.
• Where they show: recommendations on your page, and posts or comments that tag you, display under What neighbors say. Recommendations left after Faving are also shared in the newsfeed.
• Faves aren't recommendations. A Fave means the neighbor follows your page to see your posts. The Fave count is shown on your page.
• Visibility and ranking: Nextdoor says more recommendations across neighborhoods means more neighbors can see your page, and more recommendations in a given neighborhood means you rank higher in that neighborhood's Recommendations section.
• Who can see them: recommendations are visible to anyone. Tagged posts follow the visibility settings of the original post.
• Reviewers control them: a neighbor can edit, delete or remove the recommendation features from their own post. You can't.

Nextdoor encourages neighbors to recommend businesses they'd suggest, rather than focus on businesses to avoid. It also allows neighbors to describe bad experiences, within the Community Guidelines.

What businesses can and can't see or do

Nextdoor limits business accounts in ways that affect how you manage your reputation:

• Businesses can't see neighborhood newsfeeds. You only see comments you're tagged in and recommendations for your business.
• You can see a recommending neighbor's name, profile photo and neighborhood.
• Businesses can't start a message thread or send connection requests to neighbors, including neighbors who Faved you.

How to get more Nextdoor recommendations within the rules

Nextdoor's help center suggests sharing your business page link (use Share at the top of your page) so customers can find you and recommend you. Verified pages can also publish business posts, which is another place to remind past customers where to find and recommend you.

What to avoid:

• Recommending yourself from your personal account. Nextdoor's self-promotion policy says that when a neighbor asks for a recommendation, you may not reply from your personal account to recommend your own business. Replies must come from other neighbors or from your business page.
• Having family, staff or close friends post for you. Nextdoor treats their posts on the business's behalf as business promotion, which isn't allowed in the main feed. Under the FTC's rule on consumer reviews (16 CFR Part 465), undisclosed insider reviews can also create legal risk.
• Offering rewards for recommendations. The FTC rule bans incentives tied to a positive (or negative) review, and a reward for a "recommendation" is hard to separate from that. Keep asks simple and unpaid.
• Asking only the customers you think are happy. Send the same request to every customer after a completed job.

Need wording? See our guide to asking for reviews by email, SMS and in person.

How to reply to Nextdoor recommendations

You can comment on any post that mentions your business and on any post a neighbor made when they Faved your page. You'll get a notification and can reply from it. From your business profile, open Page and go to What neighbors say to view and reply. Other neighbors see your reply in the feed, so write for the neighborhood, not just the reviewer.

Nextdoor's advice for negative recommendations: it's often best to resolve issues privately, and any public reply must follow the Community Guidelines. That means no personal attacks, no public shaming, and don't call a customer a "liar." Explain your understanding of the facts or suggest a solution.

Example: thanking a neighbor

Thank you, [First name]! It was a pleasure working on your backyard. We appreciate you sharing us with the neighborhood. — [Name], [Business Name]

Example: responding to a complaint (works for healthcare offices too)

We're sorry to hear this, and we'd like to make it right. Please call [Name] directly at [Phone] so we can talk it through. — [Business Name]

If you run a clinic, dental office or other healthcare practice, don't confirm that the person was a patient or mention any health detail. Keep it to an invitation to call. More examples are in how to respond to negative reviews.

How to report a Nextdoor recommendation that breaks the rules

Nextdoor's guidance for businesses is direct: if you believe a recommendation violates the Community Guidelines, contact Nextdoor so it can be reviewed for removal. Nextdoor also says:

• It reviews content only against the Community Guidelines.
• Consumers have a legal right to opine truthfully about businesses.
• Nextdoor cannot judge whether a review is true or false.

Neighbors can report posts and comments through the "..." menu, then Report. Report reasons include uncivil or unkind content, public shaming, violation of someone's privacy, discrimination, fraud or spam. Reported content usually goes to local moderators who vote to keep or remove it. Some reports go straight to Nextdoor Support. If a report is found not to break the guidelines, the reporter can appeal, and a different set of moderators reviews it.

Nextdoor warns that excessive or retaliatory reporting is itself a guideline violation, so report only clear breaches. No one can guarantee Nextdoor will remove a post. If you believe a post is defamatory rather than just critical, speak with an attorney. Our overview of defamation vs. opinion is general information, not legal advice.

If Nextdoor keeps the post up

• Reply once, calmly, from your business page, and offer to talk offline.
• Fix the underlying issue if it's valid. A neighbor who's satisfied can edit their own post.
• Keep earning recommendations. Nextdoor visibility is driven by recommendation volume by neighborhood, so steady new recommendations do more than any single removal.

Common Nextdoor mistakes

• Leaving the auto-created page unclaimed while neighbors tag it.
• Skipping verification, then finding you can't post.
• Recommending yourself from a personal account, or asking relatives or staff to do it.
• Arguing in the comments. The whole neighborhood can read your reply.
• Mass-reporting critical posts.

If you're also listed on home-services marketplaces, see our Angi guide.