For many businesses in Qatar and the wider GCC, a website in one language leaves customers out. But a bilingual site is more than a translated copy of the English pages. Arabic reads right to left, uses different typography, and needs its own pages that search engines can find and rank.
This guide covers the decisions that make an Arabic–English website work well: structure, design, SEO and the content workflow that keeps both languages up to date.
Plan the structure first.
Each language should have its own URL, so search engines can index both and show the right one to the right person. The most common pattern is a language folder, such as /ar/ for Arabic pages alongside the English pages. It keeps everything on one domain, which helps both languages benefit from the site's authority.
Avoid switching languages with a script on the same URL, or relying on automatic translation widgets. Search engines generally index only one version, and the result often reads poorly to native speakers.
Right-to-left design done properly.
Arabic pages need the whole layout mirrored, not just the text aligned to the right:
- Navigation, columns and reading order flow from right to left.
- Directional icons such as arrows and progress indicators are flipped.
- Numbers, product codes, phone numbers and embedded English stay left to right inside Arabic text.
- Forms, carousels and step indicators work in the reverse direction.
Modern CSS makes this much easier with logical properties, which describe spacing as "start" and "end" rather than "left" and "right", so one stylesheet serves both directions.
Typography for Arabic.
Arabic fonts need careful choice. Many fonts designed for English don't include Arabic at all, and pairing a random Arabic font with your English typeface rarely looks like one brand. Choose a typeface family with good Arabic and Latin designs, or pair fonts deliberately so weight and personality match.
Arabic text often needs slightly larger sizes and more generous line spacing for comfortable reading, especially on phones.
SEO for two languages.
- Separate, indexable URLs for each language version.
- hreflang tags that tell search engines which pages are translations of each other.
- Titles, descriptions and headings written for how people actually search in each language, not word-for-word translations.
- An XML sitemap that includes both languages.
- Arabic keyword research: people often search differently in Arabic than the English equivalent suggests.
Content workflow.
The hardest part of a bilingual site isn't the build; it's keeping both languages current. Decide who writes and approves Arabic content, how updates flow between languages, and what happens when one language gets ahead of the other.
Use professional translation or, better, transcreation by a native writer who adapts the message rather than translating it literally. Machine translation can help with drafts but needs a native editor before publishing.
Launch in English, add Arabic later?.
That's a perfectly good plan, as long as the site is built bilingual-ready from the start: a layout system that mirrors correctly, URL structure planned for a second language, and components that don't assume left-to-right. Then adding Arabic is a content project, not a rebuild.
Build it right from the start.
Odysense designs and builds bilingual Arabic and English websites and stores for businesses in Qatar and the GCC, with proper right-to-left layouts, Arabic typography, and the technical SEO that lets both languages rank.
Request a free consultation and we'll plan the structure and the workflow for your bilingual site.