In the Gulf your customers speak Arabic, English and many other languages. A website in both Arabic and English reaches more people and builds trust. But adding Arabic is more than translating the words.
1. Right-to-left layout
Arabic reads from right to left, so the whole layout should mirror: menus, text alignment, icons with direction like arrows, and the order of columns. Modern CSS makes this clean when it is planned from the start.
2. Arabic fonts
Choose a clear Arabic font that matches your English font, and make the text a little larger than English for readability.
3. Natural translation
Machine translation alone often sounds strange. Use it as a starting point, then have a fluent speaker review it for your business and your customers.
4. A clear language switch
Put the switch in the header on every page, and take the visitor to the same page in the other language, not the home page.
5. Separate addresses for each language
Use addresses like /ar/ and /en/ so Google can index both versions.
6. SEO for both languages
- Arabic titles and descriptions written for Arabic searches.
- hreflang tags that tell Google which page is for which language.
- Both versions in the sitemap.
7. Test on real phones
Check forms, phone numbers and prices in Arabic; numbers and English words inside Arabic text need care so they display in the right order.
Need help with this? Let us do it for you
arafatbin.com offers multi-language website for businesses in Oman and across the GCC, from OMR 2. Prices show in your local currency, you get a clear quote before we start, and support on WhatsApp.