Building an Arabic–English Website for the UAE: The Complete Product Checklist

Literal translation can make a polished English page feel mechanical in Arabic. Headlines, proof, calls to action and form questions should be written for the audience and context, not forced into the same word count.

Decide which audiences need Arabic, whether the offer changes by language and who approves terminology. In regulated or specialized sectors, create a shared glossary before producing dozens of pages.

Google recommends different URLs for different language versions and hreflang annotations that connect equivalent pages. A structure such as /en/ and /ar/ is understandable to users, editors and search engines.

Do not rely only on IP location, browser language or cookies to change the content at one address. Googlebot may not discover every variation. Detection can suggest the most likely language, but the visitor should remain able to switch explicitly.

• Use a unique, indexable URL for each localized page
• Add reciprocal hreflang annotations between equivalents
• Use a self-referencing canonical on each genuine translation
• Include every localized URL in the XML sitemap
• Keep navigation and core content in one language per page

A robust interface uses logical directions such as start and end rather than hard-coded left and right. Navigation order, icons, progress indicators, carousels, tables and motion direction should be reviewed in context.

Some elements should not mirror. Brand marks, phone numbers, charts, media controls and mixed-language strings may need explicit direction. Test real Arabic content early because placeholder text hides line-length and typography problems.

Choose an Arabic typeface for quality and compatibility with the Latin brand system. Matching point sizes does not guarantee matching visual weight or rhythm.

Allow components to grow. Arabic and English strings rarely occupy identical space. Fixed-height cards and buttons create clipping, awkward wrapping or inconsistent hierarchy when the real translation arrives.

The landing page, brief, validation messages, confirmation email and sales response should use the visitor's selected language. A localized headline followed by an English-only form signals that the operation behind the page is not ready.

Preserve campaign and attribution data across language changes. The team should know which language produced the enquiry and be prepared to respond appropriately.

Every new English page creates a decision for Arabic: translate now, schedule later or intentionally omit it. Define who owns that decision, how stale translations are detected and whether one version can publish before the other.

A bilingual site is sustainable when the content model, CMS permissions and review workflow make accuracy easy. Without governance, the language switcher becomes a doorway to outdated offers and broken trust.