Nextdoor Ads Policy & Guidelines

Table of Contents

Intro

Advertising Principles and Values

Requirements and Restrictions

Advertiser Requirements

Advertisement Content and Creatives

Advertisement Functionality and Behavior

Advertisement Targeting

Enforcement

Continual Improvement

Intro

At Nextdoor, our commitment is to cultivate a positive and respectful community, providing a platform for our users (we call them neighbors!) to connect, share valuable information, and build trust. We recognize the value of advertising in enhancing each neighborhood's experience, and want to ensure that advertisements on Nextdoor align with this commitment. This advertising policy outlines the standards and guidelines advertisers must follow, ensuring a harmonious and trusted experience for all neighbors.

Nextdoor’s ad policy places requirements and restrictions on the following:

  • Advertiser requirements, detailing the criteria that all advertising accounts on Nextdoor must meet to be eligible for the use of our advertising platform
  • Content and creatives, defining what types of content are allowed, restricted, or prohibited, and how they should be portrayed
  • Functionality and behavior, establishing permissible features and their technical limitations on Nextdoor’s platform
  • Targeting, outlining restrictions on how advertisers target audiences

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 1, 2025

Advertising Principles and Values

Here at Nextdoor, we focus on delivering the right value to our neighbors. We want all advertisements on our platform to do the same, so we’ve created these principles and values to help serve as a compass for our advertising partners.

  • Provide neighborhood value

Goods and services should highlight the genuine benefit to a community and/or its members. Consider highlighting how your goods and services enrich daily life, foster social connections, and support local communities. By tailoring messages to address the unique needs and interests of the neighborhood, advertisers can offer practical solutions and helpful information. 

  • Be honest and transparent to neighbors

Clearly disclose all relevant information about your goods and services. This means providing accurate and truthful details about benefits, costs, terms or conditions, and any potential limitations or side effects. Transparency in data usage and around privacy practices is crucial, ensuring that neighbors understand how their information is being used and giving them control over their data when possible. 

  • Contribute to a positive experience 

Be mindful of the impact of your ad's creative content, how it is portrayed, and how you are designating an audience. Create content and offer goods and services that add value by solving problems and covering the interests of the community. Advertisements should be designed to offer helpful solutions, provide additional awareness or resourcing, and provide neighbors access to goods and services they might not have easy access to. By focusing on positivity, advertisers can play a role in enriching the lives of our neighbors and the liveliness of their neighborhoods.

  • Be inclusive and equitable

Ensure your campaigns represent and resonate with diverse audiences. Use inclusive language and imagery that reflect varied backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. By prioritizing inclusivity and equity, advertisers can create a more welcoming and fair environment for all users. Please see our Advertisement Targeting section for more information on what practices are or aren’t allowed. 

Requirements and Restrictions

Advertiser Requirements

  • Advertisers must be within good standing with Nextdoor
    1. You are not actively violating any of Nextdoor’s Terms or Guidelines
    2. Your account or associated accounts have not received a violation in the past 90 days
    3. Your account has not been flagged for safety related reasons
    4. If you are advertising on behalf of an business that you do not own, you may be asked to provide verification of affiliation to the business
    5. You must not have an overdue charge owed to Nextdoor over 90 days

Advertisement Content and Creatives

  • Advertisements must adhere to Nextdoor’s Community Guidelines – Nextdoor’s Community Guidelines define acceptable behavior and content across the platform. Compliance with these guidelines is required for advertisers on the platform unless otherwise stated in our Advertising Policies.
  • Advertisements must adhere to our quality requirements

                 Advertisements must:

    • Accurately represent the advertised products or services and have the advertiser’s name or brand clearly displayed at the top of the ad on all creative elements including images, videos, copy, and landing page 
    • Have a complete landing page not currently under construction or in PDF or JPEG format, and contain original content (content that is not copied or repurposed from other sources)
    • Ensure landing pages are viewable on commonly-used devices and browser

    Be presented in the language of your audience
    • If targeting in the US: non-English advertisements must contain an English translation
    • If targeting in Quebec: all advertisements directed to general audiences must be in French, with optional English translations that are not more prominent than the French text. Advertisements directed to English-language-preference audiences may be in English only.
    • If targeting in Canadian markets other than Quebec: Advertisements may be in English, French, or both.
    • If targeting the UK: non-English advertisements must contain an English translation
    • If targeting in the Netherlands: non-Dutch advertisements must include a Dutch translation.

                  Advertisements may not contain:

    • Blurry images or videos
    • Poorly cropped visuals images or videos
    • Heavy text overlay, small font or image sizes, or elements hindering readability
    • Excessive capitalization or spacing
    • Strobing, flashing, or distracting images or animations
    • Disorienting placement such as upside down images
    • Unsupported special characters
    • Offensive or profane content
  • Advertisements may not include deceptive claims about product or service descriptions, attributes, performance, availability or pricing, or about partnerships, endorsements, affiliations, or sponsorships – We value honesty, transparency, and integrity in our neighborhoods and expect the same from our partners. This includes advertisers being truthful about their claims and affiliations.
  • Advertisements may not contain manipulative, exploitative, or coercive content – We fundamentally believe in the potential value of advertising to enhance a neighbor’s experience. In order to do so in a principled way, we want to ensure that all advertisements are conducted with integrity and safety. We find that advertisements that operate in manipulative or coercive ways violate these principles and will not allow them on our platform. 

Advertisements may not:

  • Employ fear tactics or intimidate
  • Use excessively violent, gory, vulgar, horrifying, or unsettling content
  • Be alarmist, sensationalistic, utilize clickbait that purposely withholds information, exaggerates, or contains unrealistic claims
  • Imply or attempt to generate negative self-perception in order to promote a good or service. This includes:
    • Promoting or reinforcing negative or unhealthy and unrealistic body images
    • Promoting unhealthy behaviors or habits detrimental to a person’s health and well-being
    • Exploiting people’s insecurities
    • Feature body-shaming of any type
  • Use AI in ways that intentionally deceive or manipulate users 
    • Content utilizing media generated by AI must properly provide disclosure that images, audio, video, or other media types have been created using AI
  • Advertisements may not exploit crises, personal hardship, controversy, or contain national political issues – Offering support is not the same as taking advantage of hardship, and creating a civil place for respectful discussion is not the same as instigating polarizing disagreements. Advertisements should add value to the neighborhood in a way that does not take advantage of neighbors or their adversities or creates a hostile or inflammatory environment. Please see our political and social issues section for more information on local issue ads.
  • Prohibited Goods & Services – Advertisements on Nextdoor prioritize the safety and vitality of a neighborhood and its neighbors. For this reason, we do not allow the below types of goods and services to be advertised on our platform. As more research and data is made publicly available, we may update these guidelines to better reflect the impact of these goods and services on neighborhoods. This could include moving from prohibited to restricted, complete allowance, or other forms of policy alterations in order to meet the needs of our neighbors and partners. 

Adult Products, Services, or Content – Advertisements cannot promote or contain:

  • Nudity, sex toys, sexual enhancement products, or adult/pornographic content
  • Implied sexual activity, overly suggestive depictions, or objectification of a person in a sexual manner
  • Services promoting infidelity, casual sex, international matchmaking, or escorts

Dangerous Products – Advertisements may not promote the sale or use of:

  • Guns, firearms, or ammunition (including airsoft guns, paintball guns, lifelike fake firearms, BB guns, and vintage devices)
  • Accessories for weapon modification 
  • Products intended for injury or damage, including hunting knives, switchblades, or crossbows
    • Exceptions may be made for products advertised for self defense, including pepper spray, tasers, or self-defense related safety classes
  • Explosives, fireworks, or instructions for making them 

Domestic Pets & Endangered Species

  • Advertisements cannot promote the sale of domestic pets or endangered species
    • Exceptions are made for pet stores and licensed breeders where applicable
  • Advertisements cannot promote products made from any endangered wildlife, including medicinal products 

Illegal and Controlled Drugs and Related Products:

  • Advertisements cannot promote the sale or use of illegal drugs, recreational drugs, paraphernalia, or accessories associated with drug use, storage, production, transportation, or consumption
    • Marijuana, THC, and CBD products, accessories, and services are not permitted to be advertised on our platform

 Financial Schemes – Advertisements are prohibited from promoting: 

  • Counterfeit goods or infringing products (e.g., brand-name replicas, goods wrongfully advertised as genuine brand-name, knockoff products, etc.)
  • Penny/bidding fee auctions, payday loans, bail bonds, multi-level marketing, or get-rich-quick opportunities
  • Products that utilize hidden costs, and bait-and-switch tactics
  • Products that encourage deceitful practices among neighbors (e.g., spy cams, hacking software, jammers)
  • Financial products associated with deceptive practices (e.g., binary options, initial coin offerings, contract for difference trading)

Religion

  • Our current Community Guidelines do not allow religious conversations in the newsfeed, but instead, must take place in Groups. In order to maintain consistency for our neighbors, advertisements featuring or promoting religious ideas and beliefs are not currently permitted

Sale of Body Parts

  • Advertisements cannot promote the sale or purchase of human body parts, organs, tissues, or fluids

Tobacco and Related Products:

  • Advertisements cannot promote the sale or use of tobacco, tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, paraphernalia (e.g., vapes, vape cartridges, rolling papers, pipes), hookah, or cigars
  • Restricted Goods & Services – These goods & services are allowed to be advertised on Nextdoor under certain conditions. All advertisements must comply with all applicable federal and local laws, required or established industry codes, guidelines, licenses, and approvals. 

Alcohol

  • Advertisements promoting alcohol (wine, beer, liqueurs, spirits, and alcohol memberships or services) are permitted, but must abide by the following:
    • Images may not show people under the influence of alcohol while participating in risky, antisocial, or illegal behavior (e.g., operating machinery, driving)
    • Copy & images may not insinuate that drinking is beneficial or can enhance any aspect of social life (e.g., physical performance, social standing, dating success)
    • Copy and images may not promote excessive drinking or rapid consumption of alcohol
    • Copy and images may not highlight high alcohol by volume % (ABV) as a positive quality
    • Advertisements may not target, or contain copy and images (e.g. toys, cartoons) that particularly appeal to, neighbors below the legal drinking age in the country/local area where they are served
    • Ads that promote or reference alcohol must comply with all applicable local laws and regulations

Co-Branded Content

  • Co-branded content within advertisements is defined as a creator or publisher's content that features or is influenced by a business partner for an exchange of value. When promoting branded content integrations, advertisers must acquire written permission from partner brands
  • Creators, partners, and businesses must properly label promoted, co-branded, or sponsored content 

Contests, raffles, and sweepstakes 

  • Participants must not be required to make a purchase or pay any fees to take part in the contest, raffle, or sweepstakes
  • The nature of the promotion must be communicated clearly in the ad title, description, and/or image. It should be obvious to users that they are entering a contest or sweepstakes. The sweepstakes terms should be accessible to the user, and It must also be clear that purchase or payment is not required.

Financial and Insurance Products and Services

  • Advertisements for financial products and services (including loans, insurance and credit cards) must clearly and prominently disclose all material terms and conditions as required by applicable laws and regulations, such as APR and interest rates, repayment period, fees, costs and penalties, and information about the entity offering the product or service  
  • Advertisements for financial products and services may not target people below the age of 18 years old
  • Advertisements cannot promote cryptocurrency trading or related products and services without prior written permission from Nextdoor 

Gambling

  • Advertisements may not promote any kind of lottery, gambling game apps, gambling websites, or sites where users can bet on poker, bingo, or roulette
  • Sports-based services require approval from Nextdoor and are limited only to specific locations
  • Note: Brick-and-mortar casinos are permitted to emphasize non-gaming elements, e.g., hotels, parties, and restaurants
  • Exception: National, state and provincial lotteries are permitted to advertise, but must be directly or exclusively responsible for running the lottery, and advertisements may not target people below the age of 18 years old, or the higher age applicable under local laws, regulations and industry standards where the ad is served 

Health and Medical Related Products 

Clinical Trial Recruitment

  • Promotions for clinical trial recruitment may not create misleading expectations or effects of a product being tested, or imply that the product being tested is safe. Promotions must comply with all
  • applicable local laws and regulations, required or established
  • industry codes, guidelines, licenses and approvals 

Contraception

  • Advertisements for contraceptives must focus on the contraceptive features of the product, and not on sexual pleasure or sexual enhancement

Cosmetic Procedures

  • Advertisements marketing cosmetic procedures must comply with applicable laws and cannot contain “before-and-after” images or images that showcase unexpected or unlikely results 

Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment

  • Nextdoor requires advertisers who wish to run addiction treatment advertisements targeting the USA to be certified with LegitScript. Addiction treatment advertisements include, but are not limited to: clinical addiction treatment services or websites providing information about in-person treatment, online and in-person support groups, and crisis hotlines for those in recovery or who are seeking information about addiction treatment

FDA Regulated Goods and Services

  • Nextdoor adheres to FDA guidelines and all goods and services regulated by the FDA must be FDA approved

Health Care Services

  • Ads for health care services and medical, dental and similar procedures must comply with all laws, regulations, and professional codes applicable to the practitioner and service advertised 

Menopause

  • Advertisements for treating menopause symptoms must focus on the functional properties of the product 

Over-The-Counter Drugs

  • Advertisements that promote over-the-counter (OTC) medicines must comply with all applicable local laws, and required or established industry codes, guidelines, licenses and approvals, and include age and country targeting criteria consistent with applicable local laws. Some of these requirements are summarized for the US here; and for Canada here (see “Guidelines for Consumer Advertising of Health Products”). Advertisements for OTC may be prohibited by country-specific policies

Pharmaceuticals

  • Advertisements promoting the sale or use of pharmaceutical goods and services are only permitted in the U.S. and may not be advertised to users under the age of 18 years old
  • Advertisements promoting the sale of prescription pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical deliveries, and online pharmacies, are subject to pre-approval by Nextdoor. In the U.S., Nextdoor requires that pharmaceuticals and online pharmacies that wish to advertise are accredited by LegitScript or NABP. Advertisements for online pharmacies are not permitted outside the U.S.
  • Advertisements may not promote any opioid painkillers
  • Advertisements may not contain “before-and-after” images or images that showcase unexpected or unlikely results 

Vitamins & Supplements

Advertisements promoting the sale or use of supplements may not:

  • Make unrealistic or unsupported claims, including the use of deceptive before-and-after images about supplement effectiveness, ingredients, or health benefits
  • Imply that supplements can prevent, diagnose, cure, or treat diseases, conditions, or serious medical conditions if unproven
  • Use the words "safe", "harmless", "without risk" or words or phrases with similar meanings if unproven
  • Advertise supplements containing illegal or prohibited substances

 Politics & Social Issues

  • Advertisements on local issue-based topics are only available in certain regions to managed service clients. No political advertisements are permitted via self-serve.
  • Advertisements must promote only local issue-based topics, and cannot advocate for or against a particular candidate, party, legislation, referendum, or ballot proposition, or otherwise intend to influence an election outcome; fundraise for or by political candidates, parties, political action committees or similar organizations, or ballot propositions
    • Advertisements must comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Complying with those laws and regulations is the sole responsibility of the advertiser
  • 501(c)(6) organizations may not advertise social issues on Nextdoor’s platform

 Subscription Services

  • If a product or service charges neighbors on a recurring basis, the ad is required to disclose the terms of the subscription  
Advertisement Functionality and Behavior
  • Advertisements must respect user privacy and consent – Neighbors come first on our platform. Advertisers are expected to uphold user trust by being transparent with their data use and collection practices in compliance with applicable privacy laws.

Advertisements may not:

  • Use, transmit, collect, or harvest any user data without user consent
  • Run any application or software without user consent or user initiated actions such as clicking on the advertisement
  • Utilize any lead generation without a privacy policy for your business
  • Collect any data that you do not need. This is especially true for personal identifying information. Only collect the necessary data for your good or service
  • User consent will be obtained in accordance with applicable privacy laws
  • Advertisements may not use manipulative or coercive tactics – We build trust everyday with our neighbors and we expect our partners to do the same. This means being honest and transparent about what your advertisement does, where it goes, and what happens to the user when interacting with your advertisement.

Advertisements may not: 

  • Attempt to disguise or conceal destination pages
  • Include non functioning features or artificial functionalities, like deceptive buttons or icons, or any bait-and-switch tactics
  • Use tactics intended to circumvent Nextdoor’s ad review process or other safety and enforcement systems
  • Disable common functions such as the back button on a web browser 
  • Advertisements may not be used in any way to distribute malicious software – Advertisements should not be used in any way to harm our neighbors and neighborhoods. Intentional or not, advertisers are responsible for ensuring that their advertisements comply with the following:

Advertisements may not:

  • Run advertisements that contain, install, or run any viruses, trojan horses, keyloggers, rootkits, spyware, worms, ransomware, or other forms of malicious programs or applications
  • Redirect to sites infected with malicious software or any compromised, hijacked, or hacked sites
  • Steal user credentials
  • Launch pop-up advertisements. All advertisements must be run through Nextdoor’s ad platform and adhere to any and all technical limitations
Advertisement Targeting 
  • Advertisers and their advertisements may not assert or imply knowledge of personal attributes of any viewer within their advertisements

 Non-exhaustive examples include: 

  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • National origin
  • Citizenship or immigration status
  • Religion
  • Sexual orientation
  • Political affiliation
  • Employment status
  • Disability
  • Medical, physical, mental, or other health conditions
  • Financial status
  • Membership in a trade union
  • Criminal record
  • Philosophical beliefs
  • Identification as transgender or non-binary 

Advertisements about credit, housing, or employment additionally must not assert or imply that the following characteristics are relevant:

  • Sex
  • Gender or gender identity
  • Age
  • Familial status
  • Marital status
  • Zip code

 Credit advertisements include advertisements for:

  • Promote or provide credit offers
  • Credit cards
  • Debt services
  • Loans and loan services
  • Long term financing

Housing advertisements include advertisements for:

  • Home rentals and sales including goods and services for home rentals and sales
  • Home related financing, equity, or appraisal goods and services
  • Home and homeowners insurance
  • Renters insurance 
  • Real estate goods services

Employment advertisements include advertisements for:

  • Job listings and other forms of opportunities for employment
  • Goods and services enabling employment
  • This list includes:
    • Full-time employment
    • Part-time employment
    • Internships
    • Apprenticeships
    • Professional certification programs
    • Job posts and posts seeking goods and services
  • Advertisers may not use targeting options to engage in predatory or exploitative practices – We want our partners to add to the value and positivity our neighbors feel by uplifting the community. In order to achieve this, we ask that our partners do not target their advertisements to users who may be in a vulnerable position

Advertisers may not exploit difficulties and hardships such as:

  • Commission of a crime
  • Divorce
  • Financial distress
  • Relationship or family issues
  • Victim status in any abuse, crime, natural disaster, or other traumatic event
  • Nextdoor doesn’t enable advertisers to target audiences under 18. Furthermore, advertisements in the following areas may not target users under the age of 18. Please note that minimum age requirement for advertisements varies by location and may be lower or higher than 18 years old, depending on local laws.
  • Health and Medical Related Products
  • Financial goods and services
  • Contests and sweepstakes 
  • Alcohol (21+)
  • Gambling related advertisements (21+)
Country Specific Guidelines

UK:

  • Politics: Ads cannot contain political content, including issue advocacy.

US: 

  • Politics & Social Issues: Only available to managed services clients. No political advertisements are permitted via self-serve. Ads must promote only local issue-based topics, and cannot advocate for or against a particular candidate, party, legislation, referendum, or ballot proposition, or otherwise intend to influence an election outcome; fundraise for or by political candidates, parties, political action committees or similar organizations, or ballot propositions.
  • Ads must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including Federal Election Commission regulations and state or local laws and regulations. Complying with those laws and regulations is the sole responsibility of the advertiser.

CA: 

  • Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment: Ads may promote only online and in-person support groups, and crisis hotlines for those in recovery or who are seeking information about addiction treatment
    • Online Pharmacies: Ads promoting online pharmacies are not permitted
    • Vitamins and Supplements: Ads promoting the sale or use of supplements must comply with all relevant healthcare and wellness industry standards, as well as local laws and regulations. For Canada, these include the laws and guidance reference in the Ad Standards Guidelines for Consumer Advertising of Health Products.
  • Political & Social Issues: Only available to managed services clients. No political advertisements are permitted via self-serve. Ads must promote only local issue-based topics, and cannot advocate for or against a particular candidate, party, legislation, referendum, or ballot proposition, or otherwise intend to influence an election outcome; fundraise for or by political candidates, parties, political action committees or similar organizations, or ballot propositions.  
  • Ads must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including Elections Canada regulations and provincial or local laws and regulations. Complying with those laws and regulations is the sole responsibility of the advertiser.

NL: 

  • Over-The-Counter Drugs: Ads must not promote the sale of over-the-counter drugs.
  • Politics: Ads cannot contain political content, including issue advocacy.

 

Advertisers that violate any of the above policies may have restrictions placed on their ability to advertise on Nextdoor.

By adhering to these quality standards, we aim to provide a positive and trustworthy environment for our users, ensuring that advertisements are not only visually appealing but also genuinely reflect the promoted products or services.

Enforcement

We have a robust ad review process to ensure compliance with this policy. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in ad removal, account suspension, or other enforcement actions.

Continual Improvement

We are committed to continuously improving our ad policy to ensure a positive and respectful community experience. We welcome feedback from our members to help us maintain the integrity of our platform. If you see an ad that you think violates Nextdoor’s Ad Policy, please use Nextdoor’s Ad Reporting feature. We take these reports very seriously and will respond to your concern as soon as possible.  

This advertising policy is a reflection of our commitment to creating a neighborly, inclusive, and safe environment. Advertisers on Nextdoor play a vital role in contributing to the well-being and vibrancy of our community, and we appreciate your cooperation in upholding these standards.