Arabic Website Translation: Why Direct Translation Fails
Translating an English website into Arabic is not a simple text conversion. Arabic is a right-to-left (RTL) language with a completely different visual layout, reading pattern, and cultural context. Businesses that simply translate their English website text into Arabic without addressing these differences end up with a site that looks broken, reads poorly, and fails to convert Arabic-speaking visitors.
What Arabic website translation actually requires:
- RTL layout adaptation — The entire page layout must mirror: navigation moves to the right, content flows right-to-left, images with directional context may need flipping, and form fields right-align. CSS
direction: rtlhandles basic mirroring, but most WordPress themes, Shopify templates, and custom sites need additional RTL stylesheet adjustments to render correctly in Arabic. - Arabic SEO — not translated keywords — Arabic users search differently from English users. Direct translation of English keywords into Arabic rarely produces the terms Arabic speakers actually type into Google. For example, "translation services" could be "خدمات ترجمة" or "ترجمة معتمدة" or "مكتب ترجمة" depending on context. We conduct Arabic keyword research for the Saudi, UAE, and Egyptian markets to identify the actual search terms driving traffic.
- Hreflang implementation — For bilingual English-Arabic websites, correct hreflang tags tell Google which version to show to which audience. Incorrect implementation causes Arabic pages to appear in English search results or vice versa, wasting traffic and frustrating users.
- Cultural adaptation — Arabic website content needs cultural localisation beyond language. Payment methods, trust signals, contact expectations (WhatsApp is preferred in the Gulf), and visual design preferences differ between Arab and Western audiences.
We provide complete Arabic website translation including RTL layout adaptation, Arabic SEO optimisation, and cultural localisation — delivering an Arabic website that looks native, ranks in Arabic search results, and converts Arabic-speaking visitors.
