Nextdoor Holdings Inc. unveiled platform updates aimed at enhancing local business discovery, including an AI-powered search tool and a Local Faves hub, as the company expands its geographic footprint to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The San Francisco-based company said the Local Faves hub will rank businesses based on neighbor endorsements, while its AI search—currently available only in the U.S.—will summarize insights from neighbor posts and automatically link businesses mentioned in those posts to their profiles. Nextdoor also redesigned business pages to consolidate contact details, Faves, recommendations and Fave Awards in one location.
Additional features launching in the U.S. include a Business Dashboard and a Feed for Local Businesses, both designed to help merchants track performance and engage with community posts. The company also introduced Opportunity Alerts, a paid product that connects service requests from verified neighbors to local service providers.
Nextdoor serves more than 110 million verified neighbors globally and hosts approximately 6.6 million businesses, according to company data. Local business recommendations account for nearly 30% of all content on the platform, which has accumulated nearly 75 million "Faves"—endorsements from users—worldwide.
Consumer research cited by Nextdoor indicates that 97% of consumers rely on reviews when making purchase decisions, while 59% have encountered suspected fake reviews. The company emphasized verification requirements for both neighbors and businesses to maintain authenticity.
Chief Executive Officer Nirav Tolia stated that "local businesses have always grown through word of mouth. Online, though, reviews can be bought, manipulated, or faked. Nextdoor's approach mirrors the value of real word of mouth: a real neighbor, in a real neighborhood, sharing a business they've actually used."
