On-Site SEO for Arabic Websites 2021

When optimizing Arabic Websites, it’s all about on-page factors. Backlinks disregard the language, hence to rank Arabic websites you do not need many offsite backlinks due to the poor competition generally. Check our previous article discussing Arabic SEO in depth.

Before working on on-site Arabic SEO, it’s essential to get the basics first: website speed, security, mobile-friendliness, structured Data, schema markups and the required tags to help the search engine understand what the page is about.

Arabic SEO Keyword Research

Unfortunately, there is only a handful of Arabic SEO tools compared to English keyword research tools. The search volume and demographics stats are still poor and based on very rough estimates. There are many keywords in different Arabic niches that don’t show search volume, while there surely a market for it.

What proved to be a good way around it for our professional Arabic SEO team, is to check Google Trends first, check the volume in the US in English, then predict that search volume in the Arabic region will eventually follow the same growth patter. It worked for local dentist SEO, ceramics, digital marketing websites, and e-commerce is booming.

SEM Rush also shows some decent search stats but for English local Arabic searches, hence many Arabic searchers still rely on English queries and results, even when searching for a local business. Businesses in the Middle East and GCC countries are optimizing for English content first, but Arabic SEO for websites is on the rise as well.

On-Site SEO for Arabic Websites

So after gathering and analyzing keyword research, priorities, and which keywords drive better traffic and conversion, it’s time to implement your keyword roadmap for on-site SEO for Arabic websites.

Some SEO professionals focus only on Page Titles and URLs, it’s best to optimize all, including the right meta description, and h1 Tags, all to include your primary Arabic keyword. You can use multiple H3’s to H6’s, as for the URL, Google stated clearly that it only relies on the URL if it doesn’t understand the page’s content, but if the page is filled with content and all the HTML tags are optimized properly it doesn’t much weight on the URL structure for ranking.

It’s also important to consider optimizing for local searches first. It’s pointless to go head to head with global websites with high DA for international search queries, for example, do try to rank for the keyword “Dentist” consider niching down and use “Dentist in Saudi Arabia”, or even better “Dentist in Al-Dammam” or Alkhubar. Targeting smaller geographical areas with some amount of search volume will turn out to be more valuable than ranking on the 2nd page of higher populated cities like “Keyword+Dubai”.

Arabic Local SEO

When optimizing your Arabic content with a focus on local searches, your pages should have geographical relevancy, mentioning a service or product along with its location on-site for Arabic SEO, along with location pages or areas you serve.

It must have a dedicated page on-site, linked with the map location on Google Maps. Consider linking to different pages for multiple Google My Business locations. Each must have a separate phone number and address, also it’s wise to do waves of local relevant citations. Brand Prominence is a big ranking factor for local SEO.

List your business among relevant Business Directories, again within your geographical area, don’t spam it to death! It might backfire if you, for example, list your business on an Egyptian website if in reality you are based in Dubai. Focus on your relevant niche and location.

Arabic SEO for E-Commerce

SEO for e-Commerce is tricky, the Middle East region is still exploring e-commerce possibilities, with the general population still reluctant to trust e-commerce websites and share card details for a $1 purchase.

While Amazon shops are not yet convenient for Arabic clients, local businesses on the other hand are embracing Shopify solutions – despite its limited SEO capabilities – or even trying e-commerce with WIX websites! Our team of SEO experts can implement essential on-site Arabic optimization but that will never be enough rank against the growing competition.

WordPress WooCommerce is slightly better, but content duplication remains a struggle. Original content written by the in house marketing teams is essential. SEO’s are experts with tactical knowledge, but the client is the expert in his vertical.

Our team believes that there are tons of growth opportunities online for Arabic e-commerce websites, but businesses have to make the right initial investment so that they do not then struggle with scaling.

Connect with our team for a FREE consultation on which platform or CMS suits your business best. Don’t invest much in design over SEO and paid ads, keep your spending strategic.