Arabic and English SEO for B2B companies in Jordan and the GCC

Why one language isn’t enough

B2B buyers in Jordan and the GCC search in both languages. A procurement team at an international contractor may search in English. A business owner in Riyadh or Amman may search in Arabic. A government buyer may use either. To Google, these are different searches with different results. A site in one language is invisible to half of them.

Step 1: Research keywords in each language and market

Start with how your buyers describe what they need, not with how you describe your services.

• Don’t translate keywords. The Arabic term people search for is often not the literal translation of the English one.
• Check spelling variants. Arabic searches vary in small ways, such as ة or ه at the end of a word, ي or ى, and with or without “ال”. Check which form is searched more.
• Check each country. Terms differ between Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. A word common in one market may be rare in another.
• Include English terms typed in Arabic searches. Many technical and software terms are searched in English even by Arabic speakers.
• Use real data. Google Search Console shows the searches you already appear for, by country. Google Keyword Planner gives estimates by country and language.

Step 2: Structure the site for two languages

• Separate URLs for each language, for example /ar/ for Arabic pages. Don’t show both languages on one page and don’t switch language with a button that keeps the same URL.
• Connect each pair of pages with hreflang tags, so Google shows the Arabic page to Arabic searchers and the English page to English searchers.
• Add a clear language switcher that links each page to its pair, not to the other homepage.
• Don’t redirect visitors automatically by location. Let them choose. Automatic redirects can also stop Google from seeing all your pages.

Step 3: Write natively, not by machine

Machine-translated pages read badly and convert badly, even when they rank. Write each language for its readers:

• Arabic pages with a proper right-to-left layout, Arabic page titles and descriptions, and Arabic image alt text
• technical terms the way buyers in that market use them
• local details that matter, such as phone formats, currencies and office locations

Step 4: Service pages first, then articles

Your service pages bring the buyers who are ready to talk. Build one strong page for each core service, in each language, before you start a blog. Then add articles that answer the questions buyers ask before they buy, and link each article to the service it supports.

Only create country pages, such as “in Saudi Arabia” or “in the UAE”, when you have a real offer or presence there. Copying the same page for each country with the name changed rarely works.

Step 5: Get the technical basics right

• fast pages that work well on mobile
• every page you want found is indexed. Check this in Search Console
• structured data for your organisation and, where relevant, your local offices
• a Google Business Profile for each real office location
• clean titles and meta descriptions in each language

Step 6: Measure by language and country

In Search Console, filter results by country and by page to see how each language performs. Then connect search to business results: track enquiries from each page in your analytics, so you can see which pages bring leads, not just visits.

Common mistakes

• machine-translated pages published without editing
• both languages mixed on one URL
• Arabic pages with English titles and descriptions
• the same page copied for every GCC country
• chasing traffic keywords that bring readers but no buyers

How long does it take?

Results depend on your competition, your site’s history and how much useful content you publish. No one can guarantee rankings. What you can control is doing the work properly and measuring it honestly, month by month.

We run Arabic and English SEO as part of our multilingual SEO service, alongside the copywriting that turns visitors into enquiries.