SEO in Oslo, Bergen and the rest of Norway: the marketing law, the cookie rule and the brief to give an agency

Buying SEO in Oslo or Bergen means buying Norwegian-language Google SEO under Norwegian rules: marketing email and SMS to individuals need prior consent under section 15 of the Marketing Control Act (markedsforingsloven), every ad and paid post must clearly appear as marketing under section 28, factual claims must be documented in advance under section 3, and cookies need consent under section 3-15 of the new Electronic Communications Act (ekomloven). Check how an agency handles each of these before you compare prices, and keep every Google and analytics account in your own company's name.

The Norwegian market in numbers

StatCounter's figures for September 2026 put Google at 89.13% of searches in Norway, Bing at 6.38%, Yahoo at 1.46%, Yandex at 1.31% and DuckDuckGo at 1.25%. So the work is Google SEO first, with a check in Bing Webmaster Tools.

Social traffic has an unusual shape. StatCounter's referral figures show Facebook sending 70.45% of the social visits to websites in Norway, Pinterest 17.22%, Instagram 4.51%, X (Twitter) 4.41%, Reddit 1.90% and YouTube 1.03%. Pinterest sending about one social visit in six is far above most markets, which matters for interiors, food, fashion, outdoor gear and travel. Ask an agency whether it has run Pinterest content before it writes a plan that ignores it.

The marketing law an agency works under

Norway is not in the EU, but it applies much EU consumer and privacy law through the EEA, and it adds rules of its own. The Marketing Control Act (markedsforingsloven, 2009) is the core. Forbrukertilsynet, the Consumer Authority, enforces it.

• Section 15, email and SMS. In business it is forbidden to send marketing to individuals by electronic methods that allow individual communication, such as email, fax or automated calling, without their prior consent. Electronic mail includes text and multimedia messages to mobile phones. Live phone calls are not covered by this consent rule.
• The existing-customer exception. Email marketing is allowed without prior consent where you got the customer's address in connection with a sale, the marketing covers your own goods or services similar to those the relationship is built on, and the customer is given a simple, free way to opt out when the address is collected and in each later message.
• Section 12, phone marketing. Telemarketing to consumers who have registered in the Reservasjonsregisteret, or who have opted out directly with you, is forbidden.
• Section 28, ads must look like ads. Marketing must be designed and presented so that it clearly appears as marketing. This section was added back with effect from 1 October 2023, and it is the rule behind clear labels on influencer posts and sponsored articles.
• Section 3, evidence first. Claims in marketing about facts, including a product's qualities or effect, must be documented, and the documentation must be in the advertiser's hands when the marketing runs.
• Section 2, retouched bodies. Advertising in which a body's shape, size or skin has been changed by retouching or other manipulation must be labelled. The rule took effect on 1 July 2022, and a regulation sets out the label.

Cookies under the new ekomloven

A new Electronic Communications Act took effect on 1 January 2025 and replaced the 2003 law. Section 3-15 says information may not be stored on, or read from, a user's equipment unless the user has been told, among other things, what is processed, why and by whom, and has given consent. Lovdata's summary notes that cookies now need consent that is valid under the GDPR. Storage needed only to transmit a message, or strictly necessary for a service the user asked for, is exempt. In practice, analytics and ad tags wait for a yes in the banner.

Oslo: what is local about buying SEO here

Oslo businesses sell to Norwegian buyers who mostly search in Norwegian, and to international companies, expats and visitors who often search in English. Decide which audience each page serves and give each language its own URL. For a shop, clinic, office or restaurant, local search is by district, so own your Google Business Profile, use your real address and opening hours, and add photos of the premises. A Business Profile that lists the areas you really serve does more for an Oslo plumber or dentist than any number of directory links.

Bergen and the rest of the country

The same national rules apply in Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger and every other municipality. What changes is the local competition and the words people use. A Bergen business should have its own page for each service it offers in Bergen, written for that city, rather than an Oslo page with the city name swapped. Where you serve several towns, make one honest page per place you actually cover.

What to put in the brief

Service	What to ask for in writing
SEO	Pages to be written or fixed each month, in Norwegian or English, with Search Console in your name
Local SEO	The Business Profile owned by you, with your real address, hours and service areas
Social and Pinterest	Platforms chosen from your own analytics, who approves posts, and how paid posts are labelled
Google Ads and Meta Ads	Accounts in your name, ads and landing pages written in Norwegian, spend separate from the fee
Email and SMS	Consent records, the opt-out in every message, and a check against the Reservasjonsregisteret for calls
Claims	The documentation behind every factual claim, held before the campaign runs

Norwegian 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 ranking: Google's own guidance says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." If you read Norwegian, our guides to what an SEO agency does and how to compare offers and to when you need an SEO consultant and how to check the contract go into more detail.

Questions about SEO and marketing in Norway

Can we send a newsletter to Norwegian customers without asking first?

Only under the existing-customer exception in section 15: you got the address in a sale, you market similar goods or services of your own, and you give a simple, free opt-out when you collect the address and in every email.

Do Norwegian rules apply to B2B email?

Section 15 covers marketing to individuals (fysiske personer). The safe practice is to treat a named person's work address as an individual's, and to use consent or the existing-customer exception.

How should an influencer post be labelled in Norway?

So that it clearly appears as marketing, as section 28 requires. Put a clear label at the start of the post and keep a record of what the creator was paid or given.

Is Pinterest really worth it in Norway?

For visual categories it can be. StatCounter's September 2026 figures give Pinterest 17.22% of social referrals to websites in Norway. Check your own analytics before you decide.

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 Oslo buyer hears from ChatGPT

StatCounter's September 2026 chatbot figures for Norway give ChatGPT 82.49% of use, Gemini 9.73% and Copilot 4.36%. When a buyer in Oslo or Bergen asks ChatGPT for a good SEO agency, it names a handful of firms based on the pages it can read: Norwegian directories, trade press, award lists and the agencies' own sites, in Norwegian and English. Those names are chosen differently from Google's rankings, so a strong local agency can be left out. AI Knows Us tracks this 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 the answers cite.