Arabic and English websites: what to get right for SEO and RTL

For businesses serving both Arabic- and English-speaking customers, a bilingual website is often essential. But many bilingual sites are an English site with translated text pasted in. The result reads awkwardly, looks broken in Arabic and performs poorly in search.

Here is what to get right so each language works properly on its own.

Give each language its own address

Each language should have its own URLs, such as /en/ and /ar/, rather than switching text on the same page. Search engines can then index both versions, and visitors can share a link in their language.

• Set the page language correctly (lang="ar" or lang="en").
• Use hreflang tags so search engines know which pages are translations of each other.
• Let visitors switch language and land on the same page in the other language, not the homepage.

Design for right-to-left, not just flipped text

Arabic reads right to left, so the whole layout should mirror: navigation, alignment, icons that show direction and the order of elements. Building with logical layout properties (start and end rather than left and right) makes this reliable instead of a long list of fixes.

• Arrows and progress indicators should point the right way in each language.
• Numbers, phone numbers and product codes need care where Arabic and Latin text mix.
• Use a typeface designed for Arabic, at a comfortable size and line height.

Write the content for each audience

People search differently in each language. A direct translation of English keywords often misses the terms Arabic speakers actually use. Research keywords per language, and have the content written or adapted by someone fluent, so it sounds natural and answers local questions.

Technical checks before launch

1. 1Each language version has its own title, description and sitemap entries.
2. 2Forms, error messages and emails are translated too.
3. 3Pages load quickly on mobile in both languages, including Arabic fonts.
4. 4Search Console is set up to monitor both versions.

A bilingual site built this way feels native to both audiences and gives each language a fair chance in search, which is the whole point of having two.