Most global brands enter the Middle East with an English website, but their customers search in Arabic and in English. Bilingual SEO means building one website that ranks in both languages: Arabic pages with their own URLs, hreflang tags that tell Google which version to show, and content written for each language. This guide explains how to set up an Arabic and English website for search in the Middle East, and the mistakes that stop Arabic pages from ranking.
Why Bilingual SEO Matters in the Middle East
Search in the Middle East happens in two languages. Many consumers search in Arabic, while business buyers, technology users and expatriates often search in English. In the UAE, where most residents are expatriates, English searches are common in almost every category. An English-only site misses the Arabic searches, and an Arabic-only site misses the English ones. The same question applies to ads, as our guide to Arabic or English ads explains.
A bilingual site lets each page rank in the language of the search. Google has about 95% of searches in the region, as our guide to search engines in the Middle East shows, so the setup in this guide follows Google's rules. For the full strategy, see our Middle East SEO guide.
Choosing a URL Structure for Arabic and English
| Structure | Example | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subfolders | example.com/ar/ | One domain to manage and to build backlinks to, simple to set up | Country targeting depends on hreflang and content |
| Subdomains | ar.example.com | Can be hosted separately | More work to manage as one site |
| Country domains | example.sa, example.ae | Clear signal for one country | A separate domain and SEO effort for each country |
| URL parameters | example.com?lang=ar | None for SEO | Google does not recommend them for language versions |
For most global brands, subfolders are the best choice. Use /ar/ for Arabic, and keep English at the root or under /en/. Add country folders such as /ar-sa/ only when prices, products or offers differ between countries.
How to Set Up hreflang for Arabic and English
hreflang tags tell Google that two or more pages are versions of the same content for different languages or countries. Google then shows the version that matches the searcher's language and location. Each tag has a language code and, when needed, a country code:
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ar | Arabic, for users in any country |
| ar-SA | Arabic, for users in Saudi Arabia |
| ar-AE | Arabic, for users in the UAE |
| en | English, for users in any country |
| en-AE | English, for users in the UAE |
| x-default | The page to show when no other version matches |
A common mistake is to use a country code on its own. sa is the language code for Sanskrit, not Saudi Arabia, and codes such as ar-KSA or en-UAE are not valid. The language always comes first, and the country uses its two-letter ISO code.
Every version must list itself and every other version, and the tags must point both ways. If the Arabic page links to the English page but the English page does not link back, Google can ignore the tags. This example is for a page with one English and one Arabic version:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/pricing/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ar" href="https://example.com/ar/pricing/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/en/pricing/" />Put the same block on both pages. You can add hreflang in the HTML head, in HTTP headers or in your XML sitemap. For large sites, the XML sitemap is often the easiest to maintain.
Canonical Tags on Bilingual Sites
Each language version should have a canonical tag that points to itself. Do not point the canonical tag of an Arabic page to the English page. That tells Google the Arabic page is a duplicate, and Google may then leave the Arabic page out of its index. Translated pages are not duplicate content, so they do not need a canonical tag to the original.
How Google Detects the Language of a Page
Google uses the visible content of a page to decide its language. It does not use the lang attribute or the URL for this. That has two effects for a bilingual site:
- Use one language per page. Translate the navigation, buttons, footer, title tag, meta description and image alt text, so an Arabic page is fully in Arabic.
- Still set
lang="ar"anddir="rtl"on Arabic pages. Browsers and screen readers need them, and they control the right-to-left layout, as our guide to Arabic UX and RTL web design explains.
Do Not Redirect Users by Location or Browser Language
Some sites send visitors to the Arabic or English version automatically, based on their IP address or browser language. Google recommends against this. Googlebot crawls mostly from the US, so an automatic redirect can stop it from seeing your Arabic pages, and users who prefer the other language cannot choose it.
Use a visible language switcher instead. Each switcher link should go to the same page in the other language, not to the homepage, and it should be a normal link that Google can crawl. You can also show a banner that suggests the other language, as long as the user decides.
Arabic URLs: Arabic Script or Latin Letters?
URLs can use Arabic script, for example /ar/أسعار/, or Latin letters, for example /ar/pricing/. Both can rank. Arabic-script URLs show in Arabic in search results and in the browser. When they are copied into emails or chat apps, they often turn into long encoded strings such as %D8%A3%D8%B3.... Latin URLs are shorter to share and easier for teams to manage. Choose one rule for the whole site and keep it.
Keyword Research and Content for Each Language
Do keyword research separately for each language. The Arabic page for a product may target different terms from the English page. Arabic searches also include spelling variants and dialect words, as our guide to Arabic keyword research explains. Write the Arabic title tag, meta description and headings from the Arabic keyword research instead of translating the English ones.
The Arabic content itself should be localised by native writers. A word-for-word translation reads badly and often misses the terms people search for. Our Arabic localization guidelines cover what to adapt.
Common Bilingual SEO Mistakes
- Arabic pages published from machine translation without native review.
- hreflang tags without return links, or with wrong codes such as
ar-KSA. - Arabic pages with a canonical tag that points to the English version.
- One URL for both languages, with the language set by a cookie or by JavaScript, so Google can index only one version.
- Arabic pages with English menus, buttons or meta descriptions.
- Arabic URLs missing from the XML sitemap.
- Automatic redirects based on IP address or browser language.
How to Check Your Setup
Crawl the site with an SEO crawler such as Screaming Frog to find hreflang errors, missing return links and wrong canonical tags. In Google Search Console, use the URL Inspection tool to check that your main Arabic pages are indexed. Then filter the Performance report by page, for example URLs that contain /ar/, and by country, to see how each language performs in each market.
Conclusion
A bilingual site ranks in both languages when each Arabic page has its own URL, correct hreflang and canonical tags, and content written for Arabic search. GOTOMENA sets up and optimises Arabic and English websites through our Arabic SEO services, with native Arabic content from our Arabic copywriting team. To review your site, contact our team.