Arabic & international SEO
Arabic SEO: how to rank in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Arabic
A practical Arabic SEO guide for UAE and Saudi markets: Arabic keyword research, dialects, RTL setup, Arabic URLs, hreflang and native content that ranks.
Key takeaways
- A large share of Gulf searches happen in Arabic, and competition for them is often lighter than in English.
- Research keywords in Arabic, separately for the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Don't translate your English keyword list.
- Set up right-to-left layouts, language tags and hreflang properly so Google shows the right version.
- Use native Arabic writers. Machine-translated pages rarely rank or convert.
Most UAE and Saudi brands launch with an English website and add Arabic "later". Later often never comes, or comes as a quick translation. That leaves one of the biggest opportunities in Gulf SEO on the table: Arabic searches, which are plentiful, commercially valuable and usually less competitive than their English equivalents.
Why Arabic SEO is worth it
- Saudi Arabia searches mostly in Arabic. For many consumer categories, Arabic queries outnumber English ones by a wide margin.
- The UAE searches in both. Emiratis and Arab expatriates often search in Arabic, while others search in English or mix the two.
- Fewer strong competitors. Many Arabic results are thin, translated pages. A well-written Arabic page can stand out quickly.
- AI assistants answer in Arabic too. ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude answer Arabic questions with Arabic sources where they exist.
Step 1: Research keywords in Arabic, per country
Translating your English keyword list misses how people actually search. For example, a fragrance shopper might search "عطور رجالية" (men's perfumes), "عطر يدوم طويلا" (long-lasting perfume) or a transliterated brand name, and spelling varies: "عطور" vs "العطور", "عود" vs "دهن العود".
How I approach it:
- Start with seed terms from customers, sales teams and competitor sites in Arabic.
- Expand with Google's autocomplete and related searches set to Saudi Arabia and the UAE separately.
- Check volumes in a keyword tool set to each country, since wording and demand differ.
- Group keywords by intent and map each group to one page.
| Market | Typical pattern | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | Mostly Arabic, Saudi phrasing | Spelling variants, Salla/Zid competitors |
| UAE | Arabic and English, often mixed | Both versions needed for most categories |
| Wider GCC | Arabic with local wording | Kuwait, Qatar and Oman each differ slightly |
English keyword
- men's perfume
- long-lasting perfume
- gift set
- oud oil
Translated literally
- عطر للرجال
- عطر طويل الأمد
- مجموعة هدايا
- زيت العود
How Gulf shoppers actually search
- عطور رجالية
- عطر يدوم طويلا / عطر ثابت
- طقم هدايا / بوكس هدايا
- دهن العود
The right-hand column reflects common Gulf phrasing; always confirm volumes for your own market before choosing targets.
Step 2: Get the technical setup right
- Separate URLs for each language. Use subfolders like /ar/ (or /ar-sa/ and /ar-ae/ if content differs by country). Don't switch language with cookies or JavaScript on the same URL.
- Language and direction tags.
lang="ar"anddir="rtl"on the Arabic pages. - Hreflang. Link English and Arabic versions with hreflang tags, each pointing to the other, plus an x-default.
- Arabic or Latin URLs. Arabic-script slugs can help click-through but become long encoded strings when shared. Transliterated or English slugs are fine. Pick one approach and stay consistent.
- RTL design. Mirror layouts properly: navigation, icons, carousels and form fields. A broken RTL layout hurts trust and conversions.
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/oud/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ar-sa" href="https://example.com/ar-sa/oud/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ar-ae" href="https://example.com/ar-ae/oud/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/en/oud/">Step 3: Write native Arabic content
Arabic pages need to read as if they were written for Arabic speakers, because they should be. That means:
- Native writers, briefed with the Arabic keyword research.
- Modern Standard Arabic for most website copy, with Gulf phrasing where it suits the brand.
- Local examples, prices in AED or SAR, and local delivery and payment details.
- The same depth as your English pages. A three-line Arabic version of a 1,000-word English guide won't compete.
My team's Arabic content writing service covers web pages, blogs and product descriptions in Arabic.
Step 4: Build Arabic authority
Links from Arabic-language publishers, directories and Gulf news sites signal relevance to Arabic searches. Arabic press releases, local partnerships, sponsorships and expert commentary in Arabic media all help.
Step 5: Track Arabic rankings separately
Track Arabic keywords in Saudi Arabia and the UAE as separate projects, and segment Search Console by the /ar/ folder. Arabic pages often grow faster than English ones once they're properly built, and you want to see it.
An Arabic page brief template
When my team writes Arabic pages, each one starts from a brief like this. It keeps writers aligned with the research and avoids translated-sounding copy.
| Brief field | What to include |
|---|---|
| Market | Saudi Arabia, UAE, or both |
| Primary keyword | The main Arabic search, with common spellings |
| Related searches | 5–10 Arabic variants and questions |
| Tone | MSA, with or without Gulf phrasing |
| Must mention | Prices in SAR/AED, delivery, payment options, guarantees |
| Avoid | Literal translations of English slogans |
| Internal links | Related Arabic collections, guides and contact page |
Common Arabic SEO mistakes
- Machine translation published without a native edit.
- One Arabic version for all Gulf countries when wording, prices and shipping differ.
- Missing or one-way hreflang, so Google shows English pages to Arabic searchers.
- Arabic pages left out of the main navigation and sitemap.
- Arabic product titles that are just the English name in Arabic letters.