SEO in Amsterdam and the Netherlands: the Telecommunicatiewet, the influencer rules and how to brief a Dutch agency

To buy SEO in Amsterdam, start with the Dutch rules an agency works under: cookies for analytics and ads need consent under article 11.7a of the Telecommunicatiewet, marketing email to consumers needs prior consent under article 11.7, and paid influencer videos must say they are advertising, as the Commissariaat voor de Media requires. Then decide which pages are for Dutch buyers and which for the international buyers many Amsterdam companies sell to, and keep every Google and analytics account in your company's name. Google handles about 89% of Dutch searches, so the core of the work is Google SEO in Dutch and English.

The Dutch market in numbers

StatCounter's figures for September 2026 put Google at 89.14% of searches in the Netherlands, Bing at 4.57%, Yandex at 2.57%, Yahoo at 1.53%, DuckDuckGo at 1.48% and Ecosia at 0.54%.

On social media, StatCounter's referral figures show Facebook sending 74.07% of the social visits to websites in the Netherlands, Instagram 7.54%, X (Twitter) 7.12%, Pinterest 5.20%, Reddit 2.83% and YouTube 2.15%. Those are visits to websites, not time spent in the apps, so use them to plan where content should send people, and check your own analytics as well.

Cookies: article 11.7a

Article 11.7a of the Telecommunicatiewet allows storing information on a user's device, or reading it, only where the user has been given clear and complete information in line with the GDPR, at least about the purposes, and has consented. The exceptions are storage used only to carry a communication over a network, and storage strictly necessary to provide the online service the user asked for. In practice, ad pixels and most analytics wait for a yes in the banner. Ask your agency how its measurement works for visitors who say no.

Email, SMS and calls: article 11.7

• Consent first. Article 11.7(1) prohibits using automated calling systems, fax and electronic messages for unsolicited commercial, ideal or charitable communication unless the sender can show the recipient gave prior consent.
• The existing-customer exception. Article 11.7(4) lets a sender use electronic contact details it obtained from its own customers in the sale of a product or service to market its own similar products or services, provided the customer was clearly and explicitly given a free and easy way to object when the details were collected and in every message sent.
• Business recipients. Article 11.7(3) drops the prior-consent requirement for messages to companies and to people acting in their profession or business only in narrow cases, such as using contact details the recipient has published for receiving this kind of message, used for the purposes they attached. It is not a general B2B exemption, so a bought list of work addresses is still a risk.

Influencer and video advertising

The Netherlands regulates video creators directly. The Commissariaat voor de Media, the media regulator, says video uploaders must follow the rules of the Mediawet, built on three principles: be clear about advertising, take care with minors, and make it known who you are. The points for a brand briefing creators:

• What counts. Receiving money or another benefit to talk about a product or service is likely to be advertising, and discount codes and affiliate links count too. Sponsoring and product placement have their own rules.
• The label. The mention must appear both in the video itself and in its description, with words such as "reclame", "advertentie", "betaalde samenwerking", "betaald partnerschap" or "gekregen", and it must stand out for the audience.
• No product placement in videos with news or current affairs, with a religious theme, or made especially for children under twelve.
• Self-regulation. Uploaders who advertise must join the Stichting Reclame Code and follow the Dutch Advertising Code, which says advertising must be recognisable, not misleading and not offensive. Its Reclame Code Commissie handles complaints.
• Registration. Uploaders under active supervision with 100,000 or more followers must register with the Commissariaat and pay annual supervision costs, which were EUR 249.34 for 2025. Smaller accounts follow the same rules without registering.

So an influencer contract in the Netherlands should name the label, where it appears, and who checks it before the post goes live.

Amsterdam: what is local about buying SEO here

Amsterdam companies often work in English and sell in Dutch, or sell to all of Europe from one site. That is an SEO decision before it is a translation job. Decide which market each page serves, give each language its own URL, connect the versions properly, and have Dutch pages written by a native writer who knows your trade.

For a shop, clinic, studio or restaurant, local search is by neighbourhood. Own your Google Business Profile, use your real address and opening hours, and add photos of the actual premises. If you read Dutch, our guide to local SEO and how Google ranks businesses on the map lists what you can fix yourself.

The same national rules apply in Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Eindhoven. A company there should build its own pages for the places it really serves rather than an Amsterdam page with the city name changed.

What to put in the brief

Service	What to ask for in writing
SEO	Pages to be written or fixed each month, in Dutch or English, with Search Console in your name
PPC	Google Ads account in your name, ads and landing pages written in the searcher's language, spend separate from the fee
Content marketing	Topics per buyer, the native writer, and who approves Dutch copy
Influencers	The label wording, where it appears, and the record of what each creator received
Email	Consent records, the objection option in every message, and how B2B lists were built

For PPC, note one recent change: Google's help centre says the campaign-level language setting is being removed for Search campaigns from September 2026, and Search ads now match the ad's own language. Dutch searchers need Dutch ads.

Dutch agencies price by monthly retainer, fixed project or hourly rate. Compare quotes on hours, named people, pages produced, reports and exclusions. Refuse any offer that promises a position: Google says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." Our Dutch guide to choosing a search marketing or SEO agency and comparing quotes goes deeper.

Questions about SEO and marketing in the Netherlands

Can we email Dutch business contacts without consent?

Only in the narrow cases of article 11.7(3), such as contact details published by the recipient for this purpose, or under the existing-customer exception. Otherwise get prior consent.

Do Dutch rules allow analytics before cookie consent?

Article 11.7a requires consent for storing or reading information on the device, except for transmission or what is strictly necessary for the service the user asked for. Plan your analytics around that.

How must a paid influencer video be labelled in the Netherlands?

In the video and in the description, with a clear word such as "reclame" or "betaalde samenwerking", shown so that viewers notice it.

Should an Amsterdam company write in Dutch or English?

Write each page in the language its buyer searches in. Many Amsterdam firms need both, each on its own URL.

When can we judge whether our SEO agency is delivering?

Read Search Console for impressions, positions and indexed pages, the Business Profile performance report for calls and directions, and your own enquiries by page. The outcome depends on competition, your offer and your budget.

What an Amsterdam buyer hears from ChatGPT

StatCounter's September 2026 chatbot figures for the Netherlands give ChatGPT 82.94% of use and Gemini 8.79%. When a buyer in Amsterdam asks one of them for the best SEO agency in the city, the short list it gives comes from what it can read: Dutch and international directories, trade press, award lists and agency sites in both languages. It is chosen differently from Google's rankings. AI Knows Us measures that for a business, asking its buyers' questions on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews and showing which firms are named and which sources each answer uses.