To plan a bilingual Arabic and English website, decide early which language leads, give every page its own URL in each language, build the layout so it mirrors properly for right-to-left (RTL) Arabic, and connect the two versions with hreflang tags. Most problems we see on UAE bilingual sites come from treating Arabic as a translation added at the end instead of a second site planned from the first sketch.

This guide walks through the decisions in the order you should make them, so your developer can quote and build the site once instead of rebuilding the Arabic side later.

Decide who each language is for

Start with your customers, not the technology. A Sharjah trading company that sells to local wholesalers may need Arabic as the main language. A Dubai clinic serving mostly expat patients may lead with English but still need full Arabic pages for booking and services. Ask yourself:

• Which language do most enquiries arrive in today (calls, WhatsApp, email)?
• Do you need every page in both languages, or only the pages that bring in customers (home, services, contact, booking)?
• Who will write and update the Arabic content after launch?
• Will the Arabic pages target the same search terms, or do Arabic speakers search for your service in different words?

The last two questions matter more than they look. An Arabic section that nobody updates goes stale within months, and an Arabic page that only translates English keywords often misses how people actually search in Arabic.

Give each language its own URL

Google’s guidance is clear on this point: it recommends a different URL for each language version of a page, rather than using cookies or browser settings to swap the language on the same URL. If both languages share one URL, search engines may only ever see one of them. Google also says to avoid automatically redirecting visitors to another language version, and to add links so people can switch language themselves (Google Search Central: managing multilingual sites).

The three common structures are:

For most businesses, a subdirectory such as /ar/ for Arabic with English at the root (or the reverse, if Arabic leads) is the simplest choice. Decide it before launch, because changing URL structure later means redirects for every page. If you have not registered the domain yet, see our guide to .ae domain registration.

Plan the RTL layout from the start

Arabic reads right to left, so the whole page should mirror: the logo and menu move to the right, text aligns right, arrows and “next” buttons point the other way, and form labels sit on the right of their fields. It is more than switching text alignment.

The technical starting point is the dir attribute. MDN recommends setting it on the root element, and notes this is especially important for RTL scripts because the default left-to-right direction is wrong for them. In practice an Arabic page should start with <html lang="ar" dir="rtl"> (MDN: the dir attribute).

When you talk to developers, ask how they handle these points:

• Layout CSS. Modern CSS uses “logical” properties (start and end instead of left and right), so one stylesheet works in both directions. Older themes hard-code left and right and need a separate RTL stylesheet that often falls out of date.
• Icons and images. Directional icons (arrows, chevrons, progress steps) should flip; logos, photos and brand marks should not.
• Mixed text. Arabic sentences often contain English brand names, product codes, phone formats or prices. These need testing, because punctuation and numbers can land in the wrong place.
• Forms and checkout. Check input alignment, error messages and date pickers in Arabic, not just the homepage.
• Theme and plugin support. On WordPress or Shopify, confirm the theme and every key plugin supports RTL before you buy them.

Write Arabic content, do not just translate it

Machine translation or a word-for-word copy of the English pages usually reads badly to native speakers, and it can miss the terms they search for. Better options, from most to least effort:

1. Write the Arabic pages separately from the same brief, so each language suits its readers.
2. Translate, then have a native Arabic speaker edit for tone, local terms and search phrases.
3. Translate only the key pages (home, services, contact, booking) well, instead of the whole site poorly.

Keep each page in one language. Google says it determines a page’s language from the visible content, not from the lang attribute or the URL, so a page that mixes long English and Arabic paragraphs sends mixed signals.

Fonts are part of this step. Choose an Arabic web font that matches the weight and feel of your English font, test it at small sizes on a phone, and make sure it covers all the characters you need.

Connect the two versions with hreflang

Hreflang tags tell Google which pages are language versions of each other, so it can show Arabic speakers the Arabic page and English speakers the English one. Google’s rules (Google Search Central: localized versions of your pages) include:

• You can add hreflang in the page HTML, in HTTP headers or in the XML sitemap. Pick one method and use it consistently.
• Each language version must list itself and all other versions. If the English page points to the Arabic page, the Arabic page must point back, or the tags may be ignored.
• Language codes use ISO 639-1 (ar, en), and an optional region uses ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2, for example ar-AE or en-AE.
• An x-default value can point to a fallback page for visitors whose language does not match either version.

For an English page with an Arabic copy, the head of both pages would include something like:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.ae/services/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ar" href="https://example.ae/ar/services/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.ae/services/" />

Many multilingual plugins and platforms can generate these tags for you; ask your developer to confirm yours does. The common failures are pages that exist in only one language but still carry tags, tags pointing to redirected URLs, and canonical tags that contradict the hreflang set. Check a few pages by hand after launch.

Choose a platform that supports both languages well

Most mainstream platforms can run a bilingual site, but the effort differs. WordPress usually needs a multilingual plugin and an RTL-ready theme. Shopify supports multiple languages, but you should confirm your theme and apps display Arabic correctly. A custom build (for example on Next.js or Laravel) gives full control over URLs and layout, with more development work up front.

Whatever you choose, make sure the admin side is easy for whoever will edit the Arabic content. If editing Arabic pages is awkward, they will not be kept up to date. A second language adds design, build and content work, so ask for it to be included in the first quote; our website cost guide for Dubai explains what affects the price.

Test both languages before launch

Go through this list on a phone and a desktop, in both languages:

• Every menu link and language switcher goes to the matching page in the other language, not the homepage.
• Arabic pages use lang="ar" and dir="rtl"; English pages use lang="en".
• Forms submit and confirmation messages and emails appear in the right language.
• Page titles and meta descriptions are written in each page’s language.
• The sitemap lists both language versions and hreflang tags are reciprocal.
• Numbers, prices, phone formats and English names inside Arabic text display correctly.

If you are still deciding what the site itself needs, our list of things every UAE small business needs on its website is a good companion to this checklist.

Frequently asked questions

Should Arabic or English be the default language?

Use the language most of your customers use. If enquiries are mostly in English, lead with English and put Arabic under /ar/; if they are mostly in Arabic, reverse it. Either way, let visitors switch with a clear link instead of redirecting them automatically.

Is a translation plugin enough for a bilingual site?

A plugin manages the URLs, language switcher and hreflang tags. It does not make the layout RTL-ready or the Arabic text read well. You still need a theme that supports RTL and properly written Arabic content.

Do I need hreflang if my site has only two languages?

It is still worth adding. Hreflang helps Google show the right language version in search results, and it is simple to set up for two languages when your platform generates it.

Can I add Arabic to an existing English website later?

Yes, but check first whether your theme supports RTL and whether your URL structure has room for a language folder. If the theme hard-codes left-to-right layout, adding Arabic can mean partly rebuilding the front end.

If you are planning an Arabic and English site, or adding Arabic to the one you have, our web development service covers bilingual RTL builds. Send us a short brief through our contact page and we will reply with a fixed quote.