Nextdoor as a Traffic Source

Nextdoor is a neighborhood social network. Its ads run in the Nextdoor feed and reach local, verified audiences, mostly in the US. This guide sets up Nextdoor as a traffic source in ClickFlare. It covers capturing Nextdoor’s click ID and ad data in your reports, and the options you have for reporting conversions back to Nextdoor. You do everything from the campaign editor. The Nextdoor traffic source is created inline, without leaving the campaign.

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At a glance

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How it works

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Before you start

• Set up your own tracking domain. Run the campaign on your own custom domain. Shared domains get flagged by networks and blocked by browsers. It also matters for the Nextdoor Pixel, which tracks the domains you control. See Custom Domains.
• Have an offer ready in ClickFlare, and its affiliate network set up to post conversions back to ClickFlare. See Creating an Offer and Adding an Affiliate Network.
• Decide how Nextdoor will see conversions. If you own the conversion page, you can install the Nextdoor Pixel there. If you send traffic to an affiliate offer you don’t control, Nextdoor will only see what the pixel can catch on your lander. Plan this before you launch. See Step 2 below.

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Step 1 – Create the campaign and the Nextdoor traffic source

1. Go to Campaigns and click New.
2. In Traffic Source, open the dropdown and click + New Traffic Source.
3. Type nextdoor in the search box and select the NextDoor template.
4. Enter a Name, for example Nextdoor.
5. Leave Cost currency on USD unless your Nextdoor account is billed in another currency.

The template fills in the Parameters table for you:

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What the macros really are

The %e...! tokens are Google Campaign Manager 360 macros, not Nextdoor macros. Campaign Manager 360 fills them in when the click passes through one of its click trackers: %eaid! is the ad ID, %ebuy! the campaign ID, %eadv! the advertiser ID and %ecid! the creative ID. The %%AD_ID%% and %%PLACEMENT%% tokens are not in Campaign Manager 360’s list either, and Nextdoor doesn’t publish URL macros we could confirm. In practice:

• If your Nextdoor ads are trafficked through Campaign Manager 360, the %e...! rows fill in. Read the “Ad Group ID” column as the CM360 ad ID.
• If you run Nextdoor’s self-serve Ads Manager without Campaign Manager 360, these columns stay empty or show the raw macro text. Your Nextdoor campaign, ad group and ad breakdowns then come from Nextdoor’s own reporting.

You can delete the rows you don’t use, or replace them with fixed values. A common approach is to add a parameter per Nextdoor campaign with a fixed value, for example nd_campaign=spring_promo, and edit it per campaign in Nextdoor. To pass more data, click Add Parameter, give it a name and parameter, and enter the value or macro as the TS Token. ClickFlare assigns the next free tracking field.

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Step 2 – Decide how Nextdoor learns about conversions

There is no postback to configure. In the New Traffic Source form, leave Traffic source postback URL off and click Save. You are back in the campaign editor with the Nextdoor traffic source selected. Nextdoor’s optimization still needs conversion data. You have three options.

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Option A – The Nextdoor Pixel on your conversion page

Use this when you own the page where the conversion happens, for example your own store or lead form.

1. In Nextdoor Ads Manager, go to Assets → Pixels and click Create Pixel.
2. Click the three dots next to the pixel ID and choose Install code.
3. In Step 1: Set up base code, copy the code snippet.
4. In Step 2: Set up conversion-event, configure every conversion event you want and the URL rule that fires it, for example purchase when the visitor reaches your thank-you page. Click Submit and check the Summary of Conversion Event Configuration.
5. Install the base code in the <head> of every page you want to track, especially the conversion page. You can also install it through Google Tag Manager, with the Nextdoor Pixel template from the Template Gallery.

Nextdoor’s pixel uses standard event names: purchase, lead, sign_up, add_to_cart, initiate_checkout, page_view, search, view_content, add_to_wishlist, subscribe, and custom_conversion_1 to custom_conversion_10. Use these exact names.

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Option B – The pixel on your lander only

Use this when you send traffic to an affiliate offer you don’t control. Install the Nextdoor Pixel on your lander and fire an event on the action you can see, for example view_content on page load, or a custom_conversion_ event when the visitor clicks through to the offer. Nextdoor then optimizes on lander engagement, not on the sale. Your real conversions and revenue stay in ClickFlare. Judge campaigns there.

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Option C – Nextdoor’s Conversions API, from your own system

Nextdoor’s Conversions API accepts conversions server to server and matches them on hashed email, hashed phone or the click ID. ClickFlare doesn’t send to it, but it stores what you need: the ndclid in each visit’s External ID. If you or your developer run a Conversions API connection, send the External ID of each converting visit as the click_id. Nextdoor asks for events within an hour of the conversion. See Nextdoor’s developer documentation for authentication and the request format.

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Step 3 – Finish the campaign and copy its URL

1. Name the campaign.
2. Set the Cost Model to CPC and enter your expected cost per click. See Cost.
3. Choose Redirect or Direct tracking. If you install the Nextdoor Pixel on your lander, Direct keeps your lander’s domain as the ad’s destination. See Direct Campaign Tracking.
4. Click Next and, on Destination, add your lander (optional) and your offer.
5. Save, open Tracking, select your own tracking domain and copy the campaign URL.

Check the URL for an empty ndclid= parameter. Because the template’s External ID row has no TS Token, the campaign URL may contain ndclid= with nothing after it. If it does, delete that part before you paste the URL into Nextdoor, so the only ndclid in the click is the one Nextdoor adds. If you use a lander, its call-to-action must link to the ClickFlare click URL, not to the offer directly. Otherwise the visit reaches the offer without a ClickFlare click ID, and the conversion cannot be traced back to the Nextdoor click. See Creating a Campaign in ClickFlare.

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Step 4 – Create the campaign in Nextdoor

1. In Nextdoor Ads Manager, create a campaign, ad group and ad as usual.
2. Paste the ClickFlare campaign URL into the ad’s landing page URL field.
3. If you installed the Nextdoor Pixel, select it and the conversion event to optimize on.
4. Submit the ad for review.

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Step 5 – Test the integration

1. Click your live ad, or open the ad’s preview link if Nextdoor offers one, so the visit comes from Nextdoor.
2. In ClickFlare, open the campaign’s report and check that the visit has an External ID. That is the ndclid Nextdoor added.
3. If the External ID is empty, look at the landing URL your browser shows after the click. If it has no ndclid, Nextdoor didn’t add one for this ad. If it has one, check the External ID row and the campaign URL for a duplicate ndclid=.
4. Complete the offer the way a real visitor would and check that the conversion appears in ClickFlare.
5. If you use the Nextdoor Pixel, open your browser’s developer tools (F12) on the conversion page and check that the base pixel and your conversion event fire.

There is nothing to check under Logs → Postback Status. No postback is sent to Nextdoor.

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Cost

The template doesn’t pass cost. Its Cost row is empty, and ClickFlare has no cost integration for Nextdoor. Set the campaign’s Cost Model to CPC and enter your expected cost per click. If you buy on CPM, enter your CPM bid divided by 1,000. If you buy toward a cost per conversion goal, CPA with your target is an alternative. Nextdoor’s actual costs vary by auction, so CPC is an estimate. Export your spend from Nextdoor regularly and correct ClickFlare with a manual cost upload. See Cost Models.

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Troubleshooting

For the general checklist, see Conversions not showing.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q1: Why is there no postback in the Nextdoor template?

A1: Nextdoor doesn’t take conversions by postback URL. It takes them from its pixel or through its Conversions API, which needs an authenticated server request. ClickFlare’s traffic source postback can’t make that request.

Q2: Does ClickFlare integrate with the Nextdoor Conversions API?

A2: No. ClickFlare stores Nextdoor’s click ID as the External ID, so you can send it to the Conversions API from your own system.

Q3: Can I use the same Nextdoor traffic source for all my Nextdoor campaigns?

A3: Yes. With no postback, there is nothing campaign-specific on the traffic source unless you add fixed-value parameters per campaign.

Q4: Should I use Redirect or Direct tracking?

A4: Both work for capturing the click. Direct is the better fit if the Nextdoor Pixel sits on your lander, because the visitor lands on your domain first. See Direct Campaign Tracking.

Q5: Can I fill the ad group and campaign columns without Campaign Manager 360?

A5: Not with macros we could confirm. Use fixed values per campaign, for example nd_campaign=spring_promo, and check Nextdoor Ads Manager for any URL parameters your account supports.

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