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Salon marketing in Norway: help new Oslo residents find and book you

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Someone who has just moved to Oslo needs a haircut and cannot read your price list. To win that customer, list services, prices and spoken languages in English, show the way to the door, offer one booking link that works without a phone call, and ask for honest reviews. Your free Google Business Profile covers all of it.

The button names below are taken from Google's help pages in English, read on 10 November 2026. If the salon has no profile yet, start with How to add your business to Google Maps in Norway.

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Who is looking for you

Think of the customer who is new in Oslo and searches in English: a student, someone who came for work, a partner who followed. This person has no regular hairdresser yet and no neighbour to ask, and picks from the map on a phone.

There is plenty to pick from. When we looked at the NorgeGuide category pages on 10 November 2026, Oslo had 622 listings under hair salons and haircare, 311 under beauty salons and 75 under barbershops, 1,008 in total. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, which means how well known the business is. You cannot move the salon, so the work is in the other two.

Listings in the NorgeGuide directory in Oslo, 10 November 2026
Hair Salons & Haircare
622
Beauty salons
311
Barbershops
75

Source: the "Found" figure on the NorgeGuide category pages, read on 10 November 2026. 1,008 listings in total. Hair Salons & Haircare Oslo

Say what you do, how long it takes and which languages you speak

In your profile, select "Edit services" and add the treatments you sell, each with a short description and a price, then select "Save". Google says that when local customers search for an offering you provide, that service may be highlighted on your profile. Write the description so a newcomer understands it: "Women's cut, wash and blow-dry, about 45 minutes" tells more than a Norwegian menu term on its own.

Add one line to the business description about languages: "We speak Norwegian, English and Polish." For a customer who worries about explaining what she wants, that line answers the question.

Choose the primary category that best fits what the salon is: hairdresser, barber or beauty salon. Google says the categories you select affect your local ranking, and asks you to use a few categories rather than one for every product or service.

Show where the door is

Newcomers do not know the neighbourhoods. Check that the pin on the map sits on your entrance and not in the middle of the block. Add a photo of the entrance from the street. If you are on the second floor or inside a courtyard, say so in the description.

Make prices and the first visit predictable

A newcomer does not know what a haircut costs in Oslo and would rather find out before sitting down. A price next to each service removes the awkward question. If you charge extra for long hair or need a patch test before colouring, write it where the customer books.

One booking path that works without a call

Calling a salon in a language you do not speak well is hard. In the profile you can add links customers use to book an appointment. Open yours on a phone and follow it to the end. It should lead to free times and not to a missing page.

Google says booking links from third-party partners can appear on a profile automatically, so check that an old booking system is not still listed. Those links cannot be deleted in the profile settings: ask the provider to opt you out. Google says providers must handle the request within 5 business days. If you use more than one link of your own, select "Set preferred link".

You do not need a booking system to have a good profile. A link to a booking form on your own website does the same job. Timma is one of the booking systems for hair and beauty salons you will come across in Norway.

Photos, with the customer's yes

Show finished work: the colour, the fade, the brows. Google asks for photos that are in focus and well lit, without significant alterations or excessive use of filters, and that represent reality. New photos can take up to 24 to 48 hours to show. Ask the customer before you take the picture and again before you post it.

Retouched photos must be labelled. This applies to every salon. Since 1 July 2022, advertising in which a body's shape, size or skin has been changed by retouching or other manipulation must carry a standard label. A filter that smooths skin changes the skin. The Norwegian Consumer Authority offers the label for download and explains where to place it.

An ordinary hair salon is not covered by section 13 of the Health Personnel Act. That section requires marketing to be sound, sober and factual, and it applies to health personnel and businesses that provide health care. Cuts, colour and ordinary hair care are not health care.

If the salon also offers cosmetic procedures such as filler injections, stricter rules apply. The guide "Markedsføring av kosmetiske inngrep", published on the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision's website, says marketing must not include before-and-after pictures, and that prescription medicines such as botox must not be advertised to the public. The Norwegian Directorate of Health states that such marketing must not come across as aimed at children under 18. Some treatments offered in salons may count as health care. If you are unsure, check with the Board of Health Supervision before you advertise the treatment.

Reviews without rewards

Ask every satisfied customer. Google lets customers leave a review through a Google link or by scanning a QR code. A review in English tells the next English-speaking customer something your own text cannot.

Do not offer a discount for a review. Google says offering incentives, like free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for reviews is strictly prohibited. The Norwegian Consumer Authority's guidance on user reviews says a business cannot write reviews itself and cannot delete negative ones simply because they are negative, and that a review given for a reward becomes advertising that must be labelled.

Reply in the language the customer used. Keep it short and personal, and never mention what treatment the customer had. If a review feels unfair, read What do you do about a bad review?

Count first appointments, not likes

Once a month, note how many new customers booked and ask each of them how they found you. That answer tells you whether the map, the booking link or a recommendation did the work. Do not judge the profile by one search you ran yourself: distance is part of the ranking, so you see a different list at the salon than a customer sees at home.

A made-up example. A two-chair salon in Grünerløkka adds six services in English with prices, a line saying "We speak English and Spanish" and a photo of the courtyard entrance. In the next months the owner asks every new customer how they found the salon and writes the answer down. That tally, not one search from the salon chair, shows whether the changes worked.

Check your Oslo listing

Questions salon owners ask

No. Google allows only one Business Profile for each business. Put the English information in the description and the service list.

No. The profile is free, and Google states there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

Only if you are a distinct business. Google allows individual practitioners at a shared location to have their own profiles when each is an eligible business with clearly different signage. Otherwise the profile belongs to the salon.

For cuts and colour, yes, with the customer's permission and with a label if the photo is retouched. For cosmetic procedures the guide on the Board of Health Supervision's website says marketing must not include before-and-after pictures.

No. Google strictly prohibits incentives such as free or discounted services for reviews, and under the Norwegian Consumer Authority's guidance a rewarded review becomes advertising that must be labelled.

Up to 24 to 48 hours, according to Google. Photos only appear once the profile is verified.

Yes. NFVB is the employers' and industry organisation for hairdressing, skin care, beauty and wellness, affiliated with NHO.

When you want help with the profile

Most of this guide you can do yourself in an evening. If you want someone to look over the profile and your visibility on the map with you, Madloba Consult can help:

Google Maps SEO for local business

More guides are in our section For business owners.

Stuck with your business profile? Write to us and we will reply by email.

Ask a questionGet a consultation

In other countries

Sources

Sources were read on 10 November 2026.

Last checked: 10 November 2026.

Written by: NorgeGuide editorial team (business guides). Fact-checked against Google's help pages on 10 November 2026.

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The Norgeguide Editorial Team

Post: We check every figure against its source and date the check.

The NorgeGuide editorial team is behind the rankings and guides on this site. We are a small team with one job: to make practical information about places and …

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