Digital marketing and SEO agencies in Vietnam: the 2026 advertising law changes what an agency must do for you

To hire a digital marketing or SEO agency in Vietnam in 2026, start with the law, not the portfolio. The amended Law on Advertising took effect on 1 January 2026, and it puts new duties on influencers, on online ad sellers and on anyone who runs ads on social networks. The Personal Data Protection Law took effect the same day and sets consent rules for targeted ads. A good Vietnamese agency already works inside both laws, can show you how, and puts the arrangement in a written contract. After that, judge the agency on Google, which carries most search in Vietnam, and on Facebook and YouTube, which carry most social referral traffic.

Where Vietnamese customers search and scroll

StatCounter's figures for September 2026 put Google at 92.99% of search in Vietnam, Coc Coc at 5.92% and Bing at 0.65%. So an SEO plan for Vietnam is mostly a Google plan, with a check on Coc Coc if your buyers use it.

For social media, the same StatCounter month shows Facebook sending 56.42% of the visits that social networks send to websites, YouTube 34.63% and Twitter 3.45%. These figures count clicks to websites, not time inside an app, and messaging apps such as Zalo are not in the list. Ask an agency for its evidence before it moves budget to a platform the figures do not show.

What the amended Law on Advertising asks of an agency

Law No. 75/2025/QH15 amends the 2012 Law on Advertising. The National Assembly passed it on 16 June 2025, and it took effect on 1 January 2026. We read the Vietnamese text published on Can Tho City's legal information portal. The points that matter to a buyer of marketing services:

• A contract is required. The new Article 6 says cooperation between the parties in advertising must go through an advertising contract. A verbal deal with a freelancer or a page owner falls short of it.
• Comparisons need proof. Article 8 now bars comparing your product or service with another firm's of the same kind unless you hold lawful documents that prove the claim.
• Ads must be truthful and clear. Article 19 says content must be truthful, accurate and clear, and must not mislead about features, quality or use.
• Online ads must be labelled. Article 23 requires online ads to carry clear signs that separate them from other content. A social network user who advertises must mark advertised or sponsored content.
• Takedowns are fast. Article 23 also requires anyone in online advertising to block or remove an unlawful ad within 24 hours of a request from the competent authority.

Influencers now carry their own duties

The new Article 15a covers anyone who directly advertises, recommends or confirms a product online. Influencers, as defined in consumer protection law, must check the advertiser's reliability and the product documents. If they have not used the product, or do not clearly understand it, they must not introduce it. They must announce that the content is advertising right before and during the activity, and they must meet their tax duties on advertising income.

So ask your agency for three things in writing: the product documents each creator received, how each post will say it is an ad, and who keeps the records. If you are weighing an agency against an independent adviser, our guide to what an influencer marketing consultant does that an agency does not sets out the difference.

Ad platforms must verify you

Under Article 23, a business selling online advertising services must verify the advertiser's identity, ask for a business registration certificate or other valid legal papers, and keep records. Expect to show your papers before the first campaign. An agency that offers to run your ads through an account in someone else's name is offering you a problem.

The data rules behind targeted ads

The Personal Data Protection Law, Law No. 91/2025/QH15, was passed on 26 June 2025 and took effect on 1 January 2026. The State Bank of Vietnam's legal department published an explainer on it, which is where these points come from:

• A business that sells advertising services may use personal data from only two sources: data passed to it by the data controller under a lawful agreement, or data it collects through its own business.
• Using a customer's data for advertising needs the customer's consent, given with a clear view of the content, method, form and frequency of the messages. The customer must have a way to refuse, and the ads must stop when the person asks.
• Tracking people on a website or app for personalised ads needs consent, a way to refuse, a set retention period and deletion when the data is no longer needed.

The explainer gives fine ceilings of up to 3 billion dong for an organisation for most violations, and up to 5% of the previous year's revenue for breaking the cross-border transfer rules. Buying and selling personal data is banned. Consents collected under Decree 13/2023/ND-CP stay valid. For your brief, this means one question: where did each audience list come from, and is there a consent record behind it?

Paying for Google Ads from Vietnam

Google's tax help page says that from 1 April 2025 invoices are issued by Google Vietnam Company Limited as a reseller, and that sales in Vietnam carry VAT of 10%, reduced to 8% until 31 December 2026, subject to changes by the tax authority, for accounts with Vietnamese billing addresses paying in dong. When an agency quotes a media budget, ask whether it includes VAT and whose name is on the account. It should be yours.

SEO in Vietnam: what to ask an SEO agency or a Vietnamese SEO expert

The SEO work is the same as anywhere: a site Google can crawl, pages that answer what buyers type, a correct Business Profile for each real location, and links you earned. Vietnam adds the language question. Vietnamese can be typed with or without tone marks, so a good Vietnamese SEO expert checks both forms in Google's Keyword Planner, with the location set to your province, and writes pages for the ones with demand. If you also sell abroad, build separate English pages.

For local search, Google's own help page names relevance, distance and popularity as the factors, and says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Our guide to local SEO from the Business Profile to the map pack covers that method in full.

Five checks before you sign with a Vietnamese agency

1. Ask for the contract first. It should name the services, the people, the reports, account ownership and exit terms.
2. Keep the accounts in your name. Domain, hosting, Search Console, Analytics, Business Profile, Facebook page and Google Ads should all belong to your company, with access granted to the agency.
3. Give read access only during an audit. Google's "Do you need an SEO?" page tells owners to grant only read access to Search Console at the audit stage.
4. Ask how it handles influencer disclosure and consent. If the answer does not mention Article 15a or consent records, keep looking.
5. Walk away from ranking promises. Google says plainly: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."

Whether the agency sits in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi or Da Nang, the checks are the same. A Saigon address tells you where the team works, not how.

How agencies in Vietnam price their work

Expect a monthly retainer, a fixed price project, a fee per influencer post, or a percentage of ad spend. Compare quotes on one written brief: hours, named people, line items, exclusions and VAT.

Questions about hiring a marketing agency in Vietnam

Do I need a Vietnamese company to advertise on Google or Facebook in Vietnam?

The law asks online ad sellers to verify the advertiser and ask for business registration or valid legal papers. A foreign company can advertise, but expect to show who you are. Your agency should not run your ads through its own accounts.

Can an influencer promote a product they have never used?

No. Since 1 January 2026, an influencer who has not used the product, or does not clearly understand it, must not introduce it, and must say the content is an ad before and during the post.

Is Coc Coc worth optimising for?

It held 5.92% of search in Vietnam in StatCounter's September 2026 figures, against 92.99% for Google. Most work that helps on Google helps there too, so ask for Coc Coc positions in the report if your buyers use it.

When can we judge whether the agency is doing well?

Judge it on what can be measured: the agreed work delivered, impressions and positions in Search Console, cost per enquiry in the ad accounts, and calls from the Business Profile. Google's SEO Starter Guide says "Some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months," and suggests waiting a few weeks to assess the effect. The outcome depends on competition, your offer and your budget.

When a buyer in Vietnam asks an assistant which agency to use

Some buyers now start a shortlist by asking ChatGPT or Gemini "which SEO agency in Ho Chi Minh City handles ecommerce". The reply names a handful of firms, drawn from the pages and listings the assistant can read, and the Vietnamese answer and the English one can differ. AI Knows Us asks those questions on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, so an agency, or a brand choosing one, can see who gets named and which sources the answer rests on.