Knowledge
Reaching expats online in the Netherlands.
Hundreds of thousands of internationals live in the Netherlands, search in English, and meet Dutch-only websites. For local businesses, that gap is a market with the door standing open.
Updated 26 July 2026
The short answer
Expats in the Netherlands search google.nl in English — “english speaking dentist amsterdam”, “tax advisor for expats”, “gym eindhoven english” — and find thin competition, because most Dutch businesses publish in Dutch only. The playbook: dedicated English pages per service targeting these exact phrases, an “English spoken” signal on your Google Business Profile and homepage, reviews from international customers, and presence where expats gather online. For many local businesses this is the cheapest new customer segment available — and this very page practises what it preaches.
Where the expat demand concentrates
The searches cluster around settling-in needs: healthcare (dentists, GPs, physio), money and admin (tax advisors, accountants, mortgage advice — the 30% ruling crowd), housing, fitness, childcare and education, and everything “english speaking + profession + city”. Volumes per phrase are modest; competition is thinner still, so rankings come fast and convert hot — an expat who finds an English page with English reviews has effectively already chosen.
Building the English layer properly
Resist the translate-button shortcut: expats have their own questions (insurance coverage, registration requirements, how things work here), so the English pages should answer those rather than mirror the Dutch ones. Pair each English page with its Dutch counterpart via hreflang, collect and display reviews in English, mention the languages your team speaks, and list the practice on the platforms internationals actually use. A handful of precise pages typically owns the niche in a city.
Frequently asked questions
Is the expat market big enough to bother with?
In the Randstad and student cities, comfortably: internationals number in the hundreds of thousands, arrive continuously, and need every local service. For a practice or gym, a few extra clients monthly from an underserved channel is excellent economics for a few pages of work.
Will English pages hurt my Dutch rankings?
Properly separated — own URLs, hreflang pairing — the two layers strengthen each other: google.nl serves each language to its own searchers, and the site’s overall authority grows. Problems only arise from mixing languages on one page.
Which businesses benefit most from expat targeting?
Anything internationals need in their first years: medical and dental care, tax and administration, housing services, fitness, childcare, driving schools, vets. If your service appears in a relocation checklist, the English niche is yours to claim.
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