Building a bilingual Arabic/English website sounds simple — translate your content, flip the layout, done. In practice, it’s one of the most technically nuanced projects in UAE web development. Done poorly, it creates duplicate content issues, broken RTL layouts, and Arabic pages that Google can’t rank. Done properly, it effectively doubles your organic search footprint across the UAE and GCC.
This guide covers everything you need to know — whether you’re briefing an agency or building it yourself.
Why Bilingual Websites Matter in the UAE
Arabic is the official language of the UAE, and over 40% of internet searches in the country are conducted in Arabic. Yet most UAE business websites are English-only — meaning they’re invisible to a huge portion of their potential audience.
Arabic-speaking customers — whether UAE nationals, GCC residents, or Arab expats — convert at significantly higher rates when addressed in their own language. For B2C businesses, food, retail, healthcare, and real estate in particular, an Arabic website isn’t optional; it’s a competitive necessity.
There’s also a compliance angle. Some UAE free zones and government-licensed businesses have requirements around Arabic content on their websites. Getting bilingual from day one is safer than retrofitting later.
The 6 Components of a Proper Bilingual Website
1. RTL (Right-to-Left) Layout
Arabic reads right-to-left. This affects everything — navigation menus, text alignment, icon placement, button positions, form fields, and even the direction of arrows and progress indicators. A proper RTL implementation means the entire layout mirrors for Arabic users, not just the text.
Common mistakes: Using direction: rtl only on text while leaving layout elements (nav, cards, sidebars) in their English positions. This creates a jarring experience for Arabic readers.
The right way: Apply RTL via the dir="rtl" HTML attribute at the page or body level, and use a CSS stylesheet specifically written for RTL — not just mirroring the LTR CSS.
2. WordPress Multilingual Plugin
For WordPress sites, the two main options are WPML and Polylang. Both allow you to create separate Arabic versions of every page, post, and product, with individual URLs and SEO metadata for each language.
- WPML is more powerful and handles complex sites (WooCommerce, custom post types, theme translations) more reliably. It costs around $99/year.
- Polylang has a free tier suitable for simpler sites, with a Pro version for WooCommerce and advanced features.
For most UAE business websites, WPML is the safer choice. The additional cost is negligible compared to the value of getting multilingual right the first time.
3. Arabic URL Structure
Arabic pages should have their own URL slugs — ideally in Arabic or at minimum with a language subdirectory. The two common structures are:
- Subdirectory: dubaiwebcity.com/ar/web-design-dubai/ — recommended for most sites
- Subdomain: ar.dubaiwebcity.com/web-design-dubai/ — more complex to manage
Avoid duplicate content by ensuring each language version has unique meta titles, descriptions, and body content — not just English content with a language tag slapped on.
4. Hreflang Tags
Hreflang tags tell Google which language version of a page to serve to which users. For a UAE Arabic/English site, you need:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://www.dubaiwebcity.com/web-design-dubai/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ar" href="https://www.dubaiwebcity.com/ar/web-design-dubai/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://www.dubaiwebcity.com/web-design-dubai/" />WPML and Polylang both handle hreflang automatically when configured correctly. Without hreflang, Google may show the wrong language version to users — or flag your site for duplicate content.
5. Arabic SEO — Not Just Translation
Arabic SEO is separate from English SEO. Arabic users search using different terms, different sentence structures, and sometimes different intent. “Web design Dubai” in Arabic is “تصميم مواقع دبي” — but Arabic searchers also commonly use variations like “شركة تصميم مواقع في دبي” (web design company in Dubai) and “تصميم موقع احترافي دبي” (professional website design Dubai).
Each Arabic page needs:
- Arabic meta title targeting the primary Arabic keyword
- Arabic meta description (ideally 140–160 characters in Arabic)
- Arabic H1, H2 headings using target keywords naturally
- Arabic body content written by a native speaker — not machine-translated
- Arabic alt text on all images
6. Arabic Typography and Fonts
Arabic fonts need to be chosen carefully. Google Fonts has a solid Arabic library — Noto Kufi Arabic, Cairo, and Tajawal are all excellent choices for business websites. Avoid using an English font with Arabic characters — the rendering will be poor and look unprofessional to native Arabic readers.
Also: Arabic body text typically needs to be slightly larger than English body text at the same pixel size to achieve the same readability. Plan for this in your CSS.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Using Google Translate for Arabic content. It’s immediately obvious to native readers, destroys credibility, and ranks poorly.
- Only flipping text, not layout. Navigation, icons, sidebars, and card layouts all need to mirror properly.
- Same URL for both languages. Google can’t serve the right version to the right audience without separate URLs and hreflang tags.
- Neglecting Arabic image alt text. Every image on Arabic pages should have Arabic alt text for both accessibility and SEO.
- Using the same meta title in both languages. Each language version needs its own keyword-optimised meta title.
How Long Does a Bilingual Website Take?
A standard bilingual business website (English + Arabic, 8–12 pages) typically takes 3–5 weeks with a professional agency. The additional time vs an English-only site accounts for RTL CSS, WPML setup, Arabic content creation, and dual SEO configuration.
If you’re adding Arabic to an existing English website, allow 2–3 weeks for a clean retrofit — depending on the size and complexity of your current site.
Should You Build Bilingual from Day One?
Yes, if you serve Arabic-speaking customers in the UAE or GCC. Retrofitting Arabic onto an existing English site is always messier and more expensive than building bilingual from the start. Plan for it upfront and save yourself the rework.
NetSoft’s bilingual Arabic/English website design service covers everything described in this guide — RTL layout, WPML setup, Arabic copywriting, dual SEO, and hreflang configuration — as a single integrated project.
Related Services
- Web Design Sharjah — bilingual sites for Sharjah businesses
- Web Design Kuwait — Arabic/English websites for Kuwaiti businesses
- Web Design Qatar — bilingual sites for the Qatar market
- SEO Dubai — Arabic and English SEO across the UAE
- WooCommerce Development Dubai — bilingual eCommerce stores