Can I mention my business at all?
Yes, if it is genuinely relevant to the conversation and not dressed up promotion, because “No business promotion posts” makes that exception explicit, and abuse of it gets removed.
Subreddit guides
r/smallbusiness rules, stats, and what to post
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/smallbusiness: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
By Anthony Riera, founder and operator of Rankhog.
Subreddit guides combine public Reddit source URLs, captured rules, visible verification dates, and Rankhog's account-safety workflow.
Current public stats
- Members
- 2,546,020
- Verified
- September 29, 2026
- Category
- Entrepreneur advice and questions
Rules can change, so Rankhog keeps verification dates and the original public Reddit sources visible.
Rule summary
- Post only questions about small business.: r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. **Exceptions** None, no exceptions. **Note:** You can post own experience in the *new* weekly stickied or pinned share-your-experience thread.
- No links, product recommendations, unsolicited advice, blog content, or SEO shaping.: We are not here to help your SEO, promote your product, or provide an audience for your unsolicited advice or stories. As of June 2026 product mentions will be removed from new posts or comments if they appear directly or indirectly promotional. **Exceptions** Unsolicited advice (best practices, stories, lessons) are allowed in the stickied post dedicated to them. Surveys related to small business are allowed as posts providing they are from academic sources and pre-approved
- No business promotion posts: No business promotion posts are allowed. Promote your business in the weekly Promote-your-business thread only. **Exceptions** You can mention your business in a relevant reply to a post or comment in other threads when relevant to the conversation but deliberate abuse of this exception to promote will be recognized and removed.
- No personal attacks.: No personal attacks.
- No market research posts - not for developing apps, not for AI, not for business offerings: Posts asking about "pain points" or trying to find a problem to solve aren't the focus of our sub and those posts will be removed. Our deep library of past posts are your guide to what everyone needs if you are willing to search and analyze. Academics may contact the mods to discuss exceptions for academic research.
Works well
- A specific question about a decision you are facing right now, like how other owners handle pricing or hiring, phrased as a question and nothing else.
- A question that shows you already searched the sub and tried something, because it reads as genuine and not as market research.
- A reply in someone else's thread where mentioning your business is directly relevant to their question, kept short and honest.
- Your promotion, if you must promote, in the weekly Promote-your-business thread, which is the one place the rules allow it.
- Your lessons learned, shared in the weekly stickied share-your-experience thread instead of as a standalone post.
Avoid
- Posting your blog post, case study, or tutorial link, because the links rule removes link posts.
- Dropping your product name into a post or comment when it reads as promotion, because the product mention policy removes it.
- Writing your success story or best practices as its own post, because that belongs in the weekly share-your-experience thread.
- Promoting your business outside the weekly Promote-your-business thread.
- Asking people about their pain points or what problems they wish someone would solve, because the market research rule removes it.
- Posting a survey you found somewhere without academic backing or moderator approval, because only pre-approved academic surveys are allowed as posts this way, because of “No business promotion posts”.”, wrong, must be one string. Ignore that; see correct item below.
What r/smallbusiness Is For
This community is a question and answer room for people starting, owning, or growing a small business, and the public description says it plainly, this sub is not for advertisements. You ask a question and the community answers, nothing more. The people here are small business owners and aspiring owners who want practical answers, not pitches. There are narrow carve outs for sharing experience and for promoting your business, and both live in dedicated weekly threads rather than in normal posts.
Rules That Matter Before Posting
The first rule that decides survival is “Post only questions about small business.”, which says the sub is for questions about starting, owning, and growing a small business, with no exceptions, and your own experience goes in the weekly stickied share-your-experience thread. The second is “No links, product recommendations, unsolicited advice, blog content, or SEO shaping.”, which bans links, blog content, and anything that helps your SEO, and warns that from June 2026 product mentions in posts or comments are removed if they look directly or indirectly promotional. The third is “No business promotion posts”, which pushes all promotion into the weekly Promote-your-business thread, though you can mention your business in a relevant reply when it truly fits the conversation. The fourth is “No market research posts - not for developing apps, not for AI, not for business offerings”, which removes posts asking about pain points or hunting for a problem to solve. The last is “No personal attacks.”, which is simple but worth knowing.
What To Post
A good post here is one honest question about starting, owning, or growing a small business, asked because you genuinely want the answer. Frame it around a real decision you face, like pricing, hiring, or handling a difficult customer situation, and keep it free of links and product mentions. If you want to share a lesson from your own journey, save it for the weekly stickied share-your-experience thread. If you want to promote, the weekly Promote-your-business thread is the only home for it. Answering other people's questions with plain, helpful replies is the safest way to build a name here, and you can mention your business in a reply only when it is genuinely relevant to that conversation.
What To Avoid
Never post a link, a blog article, or anything shaped for SEO. Never recommend your product or drop it into a post or comment in a way that reads as promotional, because the rule says both direct and indirect promotion gets removed. Do not advertise your business outside the weekly Promote-your-business thread. Do not write a post that is really a story or a piece of advice, because unsolicited advice belongs in the stickied share-your-experience thread. Do not ask about pain points or try to mine the community for app ideas, AI ideas, or business offerings, because market research posts get removed. And do not attack anyone personally.
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Common questions about r/smallbusiness
Can I link to my website in a comment?
No, the survival tip and the rule text both point promotion of any kind to the weekly Promote-your-business thread.
Where do I share my own experience or advice?
Yes, and that is the one sanctioned home for it, so save your story for that thread.
Can I ask what problems small business owners face?
No, “No market research posts - not for developing apps, not for AI, not for business offerings” removes pain point hunting, and points you to the community's deep library of past posts instead.
Can I post my lessons learned as a regular post?
No, “Post only questions about small business.” allows no exceptions outside the weekly sticky or pinned thread.
Lists featuring r/smallbusiness
Use these audience lists to decide whether r/smallbusiness is the best fit for your Reddit SEO plan or just one supporting community.
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