SEO and digital marketing in Tokyo and Japan: three search engines, the stealth marketing ban and Japanese written by Japanese writers

To choose an SEO agency or a digital marketing agency in Tokyo, start with three facts about the Japanese market. Search is split: Google leads, but Bing and Yahoo! JAPAN carry a large share between them. Social media is led by X, not Facebook. And since 1 October 2023, a hidden advertisement, such as a creator post that does not say it is paid, breaks Japan's Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations. A good agency covers the engines your buyers use, has Japanese written by native writers, labels every paid post, and keeps the accounts in your company's name.

We read the sources on this page on 22 October 2026. Japanese-speaking readers can use our Japanese guides to choosing a web advertising agency and to local SEO and MEO for Google Maps.

Where people in Japan search and scroll

StatCounter's figures for September 2026 put Google at 59.27% of search in Japan, Bing at 31.41% and Yahoo! at 7.61%. That is a very different split from most countries. StatCounter measures page views on the sites it tracks, so check your own analytics to see which engines send your visitors, then make sure the agency's plan covers each one with real traffic. Our guide to Bing SEO covers what Bing publishes about ranking.

For social media, the same month shows X (Twitter) sending 52.91% of the visits that social networks send to websites, Instagram 22.9%, Facebook 14.64%, Pinterest 3.39% and YouTube 2.79%. These figures count clicks out to websites only, and they do not count LINE, which many Japanese businesses use for customer messages. A social media agency in Japan should be strong on X and Instagram, and should explain how it counts enquiries that end in LINE.

What a Tokyo SEO agency should deliver

Google lists the services an SEO provider can usefully offer: a review of your site's content or structure, technical advice on hosting, redirects, error pages and JavaScript, content development, keyword research, SEO training, and expertise in specific markets and geographies. Ask which lines are included each month, who does them and what you will receive. The same page tells owners to grant only read access to Search Console during an audit, and says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."

Japanese written in Japanese

Keyword Planner shows "tokyo seo" at around 210 searches a month in Japan and "japan seo" at around 110, in English. Many of those searchers are foreign companies or English-speaking teams in Tokyo looking for a bilingual agency. If that is you, the main question is who writes the Japanese. Japanese buyers search with their own words, often mixing kanji, kana and English loanwords, so keyword research must be done in Japanese from the start, not translated from an English list. Ask to see Japanese pages the agency wrote, and have a native speaker read them. Our guide to multilingual SEO architecture sets out how to link the English and Japanese versions.

Local SEO, which Japan calls MEO

In Japan, local search on Google Maps is often sold as "MEO". It is the same work as local SEO: the Google Business Profile, accurate details, real photos and replies to reviews. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Be careful with any MEO package that offers reviews in exchange for discounts; see the stealth marketing rule below.

The stealth marketing ban

The Consumer Affairs Agency's page states that from 1 October 2023 (Reiwa 5), stealth marketing is a violation of the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations. It defines stealth marketing as hiding the fact that an advertisement is an advertisement. The agency publishes a guidebook with examples and a Q and A.

This matters for every channel a Tokyo agency might sell you: creator posts, review campaigns, "user" comments, and blog posts by paid writers. The rule regulates the advertiser's representations, so the brand that pays carries the risk, not only the creator. Before you sign with a social media or influencer agency in Japan, ask:

• how every paid post will be labelled, with words such as "PR" or "advertisement" placed where readers will see them;
• whether any review or rating is gathered in exchange for a discount, a gift or payment;
• who checks each post before it goes live, and who keeps the record.

Personal data: the APPI

Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information applies to the contact forms, customer lists and tracking data that digital marketing uses. The Personal Information Protection Commission publishes the Act in English. Its English site says the amended Act was fully put into effect on 1 April 2022, and that a system reform policy under the Act's every-three-years review was decided on 9 January 2026. Changes may follow, so ask your agency to check the current text before it uploads a customer list to an ad platform or shares cookie data with an ad network.

Google Ads and Shopping from Japan

Google's tax help page says ads sales in Japan are subject to Japan Consumption Tax of 10% for Google Ads accounts with a business address in Japan, with invoices issued by Google Japan G.K. When an agency quotes a monthly budget, ask whether the 10% is inside the figure and whose company is on the account. For an online shop, Google's Merchant Center lists Japan as a supported country for product listings, priced in yen, with the Shopping tab available to users there. If you also advertise on Microsoft's or Yahoo! JAPAN's ad networks, ask the agency to report each one separately.

Creative, B2B and advertising agencies

"Creative agency" and "advertising agency" in Japan can mean anything from a brand design studio to a full-service media buyer. Ask for the scope in writing: strategy, design, copy in Japanese, media buying, or all of them. For B2B marketing in Japan, the basics are detailed Japanese pages on your product, case studies in Japanese and a clear way to request material in Japanese. A buyer who cannot read your offer in Japanese has little to judge it on.

Questions about SEO and digital marketing in Japan

Do we need to optimise for Bing and Yahoo! JAPAN as well as Google?

Look at your own analytics first. StatCounter's September 2026 figures give Bing and Yahoo! a combined share of nearly two in five searches in Japan, so many sites will see real traffic from them.

Do paid creator posts in Japan need a label?

Yes. Since 1 October 2023, hiding that a post is an advertisement breaks the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations. Label it clearly as an ad or PR.

Can a foreign company run Japanese SEO from abroad?

Yes, if the Japanese is written by native writers and someone can answer Japanese enquiries. Many foreign firms use a bilingual agency in Tokyo for the Japanese writing and keep strategy at home.

Is MEO different from local SEO?

No. MEO is the Japanese market's name for local search work on Google Maps, built around the Google Business Profile.

When can we judge whether an agency in Japan is working?

Judge it on what is measured: the agreed work delivered, impressions and positions in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, enquiries by page, and cost per enquiry in each ad account. Google's SEO Starter Guide says "Some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months." The outcome depends on competition, your offer and your budget.

When a buyer in Japan asks an assistant instead

A manager in Tokyo can ask ChatGPT or Gemini, in Japanese or English, for "a bilingual SEO agency in Tokyo" and get three names, and the Japanese and English answers can name different firms. Those names come from directories, articles, reviews and the pages the assistant can read. AI Knows Us is a different kind of service from an agency: it asks buyer questions like these on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews and shows a company which firms get named and why. Its site and reports are in English.