Marketing a hair or beauty salon in Sweden: what a new owner needs to know

To market a salon in Sweden without an ad budget, work on what a customer sees on the map: the right category, a service list with prices, a working booking link, your own photos and reviews that you answer. Then learn three local things: how people book, what the law says about reviews, and where beauty treatments become regulated.

Facts about Google come from Google's Business Profile Help. Rules and terms come from the authorities' and services' own pages. Everything was read on 10 November 2026.

How customers in Sweden find and book a salon

They search the map. Someone who types "frisör" on a phone gets a map with salons nearby. Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity. You cannot move the customer. The rest is up to your profile, and there is no way to pay Google for a better local ranking.

They book online. Many customers expect to book without calling. Bokadirekt is a booking service with its own marketplace. According to its price page, the marketplace is included in all paid plans, and the free plan is not shown online. The marketplace includes a booking button in Google's search results and Maps. It costs money and is not required for a good profile. A link to a booking form on your own site does the same job.

They compare. In SverigesForetagsGuide, Stockholm salons sit under three headings: Hair Salons & Haircare, Beauty Salons and Barbershops. On 10 November 2026 they listed 834, 543 and 87 places. That is how many salons compete for the same customer in one city. Look at how your salon appears next to its neighbours.

Write the profile so that both groups understand it

You probably serve Swedish-speaking regulars and people who are new to the city. One profile has to work for both. Google allows only one Business Profile for each business, so a second profile in another language is not an option.

• Category. Pick the primary category that best describes the salon. Google's own example comes from your trade: choose "Nail salon" instead of "Salon". Add a secondary category if you do both hair and beauty, but use only a few. If you add or edit a category, you might be asked to verify the business again.
• Services. Open "Edit services" and list what you actually do, each with a description and a price. If a service is missing, use "Add custom service". Name the service the way customers search for it. Use the Swedish words, such as "klippning", "färgning", "slingor" and "fransar", and add the English in the description.
• Languages. If your stylists speak Arabic, Polish or English, say so in the description. It is often the reason a newcomer chooses you.
• Hours. Enter them as they are, including late evenings and closed Mondays. Use special hours for Christmas, Easter and Midsummer. They cover up to 6 days in a row. If you close for 7 days or more, mark the business as temporarily closed instead.

When local customers search for a service you have listed, it may be highlighted on your profile.

One booking path, tested from a phone

In the profile you can add links where customers book, up to 10 per category. If there are several, you choose the preferred one, and it is labelled "Business preferred". Tap it from a phone and see where you land. Links from some partners can appear automatically, so an old booking system may still be shown after you have changed provider. You can opt out of such a link, and Google says the provider must process the request within 5 business days.

Photos that match reality

Post your own photos of finished work, of the room and of the entrance from the street. They should be in focus and well lit, with no significant alterations or excessive use of filters. Ask the customer before you take the photo and again before you post it. The technical limits are in the table below.

Reviews: what you may and may not do

Ask every satisfied customer, not only regulars. You can ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code to leave a review.

Three limits apply:

• No rewards. Offering a discount or a free service in exchange for reviews counts as fake and misleading content on Google and is strictly prohibited.
• No fake reviews. The annex to the Swedish Marketing Act lists it as unfair to post fake consumer reviews, or to have someone else post them.
• Say how you check. If you show customer reviews on your own website, section 12 c of the Marketing Act requires you to state whether you make sure they come from customers who used or bought the service, and how. The section has applied since 1 September 2022.

On Bokadirekt, only someone who has completed a booked service can leave a review, and a guest booking online does not qualify. The customer is asked about two hours after the treatment and has 30 days to reply, and reviews are shown only once at least five customers have left one. According to Bokadirekt's help page, replying to reviews is included in the Bas and Tillväxt plans and in the new Premium plan, and can be added to Mini and Plus.

Answer what people write, including criticism. Keep it short, and never state in public what treatment the customer had. More on getting reviews and what can be removed: Google reviews for a business in Sweden: getting them, answering them, and what can be removed.

Where beauty treatments become regulated

A cut, a colour or a facial is not covered by the rules below.

Aesthetic injection treatments, such as fillers, may since 1 July 2021 be performed only by a licensed doctor, dentist or nurse. According to the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket), they may not be performed on children under 18. The Health and Social Care Inspectorate (IVO) supervises.

Advertising for cosmetic procedures falls under the Marketing Act, supervised by Konsumentverket. The agency states that advertising such procedures to children is not allowed, that marketing must not leave out important risk information, and that before-and-after pictures must not give a misleading overall impression.

Chair rental and who owns the profile

If you rent a chair in someone else's salon, the question is whose profile it is. Distinct businesses at the same address may each have a profile if they have different names and clearly different signage, and Google also names individual practitioners at a shared location. If you work under the salon's name, the salon has the profile.

The trade body

Frisörföretagarna describes itself as the only trade organisation for hairdressers in Sweden. It issues Frisörlicens, a licence for hairdressers. To qualify you need to have passed the journeyman's examination (gesällprov) or the partial examination (delprov). If you hold the licence, mention it in the profile description.

Start here today

1. Search for the salon in a private window on a phone.
2. Tap the booking link.
3. Enter your five best-selling services with prices.
4. Post three photos from this week, with the customers' consent.
5. Reply to the three most recent reviews.

No profile yet? Follow How to add your business to Google Maps in Sweden. Salon missing from our directory? You can add it free of charge.

When you want help with the profile

You can fix the category and services, test the booking link and answer reviews yourself. If you would rather have someone go through the profile and tell you what to fix first, Madloba Consult describes its work on visibility in Google Maps here:

Google Maps SEO for local business

Sources

All sources were read on 10 November 2026.

• Google Business Profile Help: Manage your business category
• Google Business Profile Help: Manage your services on your Business Profile
• Google Business Profile Help: Manage your local business links
• Google Business Profile Help: Manage your Business Profile photos & videos
• Google Business Profile Help: Tips to get more reviews
• Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Resolve duplicate profiles & ownership issues
• Google Business Profile Help: How to set Special hours
• Sveriges riksdag: Marknadsföringslag (2008:486), section 12 c, added by Act 2022:656, in force 1 September 2022 (in Swedish)
• Sveriges riksdag: Tillkännagivande (2022:658) enligt marknadsföringslagen (2008:486), points 23b and 23c (in Swedish)
• Socialstyrelsen: Estetiska kirurgiska ingrepp och estetiska injektionsbehandlingar, updated 17 August 2026 (in Swedish)
• Konsumentverket: Skönhetsingrepp och kosmetiska produkter, regler för företag, reviewed 8 January 2026 (in Swedish)
• Frisörföretagarna: home page and Frisörlicens (in Swedish)
• Bokadirekt: Hitta rätt paket för din verksamhet, Marknadsplatsen, syns där kunderna letar and Omdömen, Frågor & Svar (in Swedish)
• SverigesForetagsGuide: the Stockholm categories above, places counted on 10 November 2026

Last checked: 10 November 2026.

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