Multilingual SEO for UAE: Shopify Playbook (English + Arabic, Hreflang, Speed)

UAE Multilingual SEO Playbook for Shopify

To outrank regional agency blogs, your store must be bilingual by design. This field-tested playbook covers architecture, keywords, on-page, schema, speed, and QA for English + Arabic in the UAE.

1) Site architecture

• Languages: Root (/) for EN, subfolder /ar/ for Arabic (Shopify Markets + Translate & Adapt).
• Handles: Keep SEO-friendly English handles for both locales (e.g., /blogs/insights/perfume-ads-gcc-... and /ar/blogs/insights/perfume-ads-gcc-...).
• Canonicals: One canonical per page; use Shopify defaults.

2) Keyword map (EN + AR + transliteration)

Build a three-column map per URL: EN intent, AR equivalent, common transliteration (e.g., “oud perfume dubai”, “عطر عود دبي”, “oud dubai”). Prioritize service + city and problem + solution.

3) On-page formula (copy-ready)

• Title tag: {{Brand}} {{Service}} — {{City}} | {{Proof/USP}} (55–60 chars)
• Meta description: {{Result}} in {{City}}. {{Differentiator}}. {{CTA}} (140–160 chars)
• H1: Match search intent; place the main keyword early.
• H2 cluster: Pricing, process, FAQs, case studies, CTAs.
• Media: WebP/AVIF, bilingual alt text.

4) Structured data essentials

• Organization (site-wide), WebSite + SearchAction, BreadcrumbList, and per page: Article or Product.
• Include "inLanguage": "en" on EN pages and "inLanguage": "ar" on Arabic pages.

5) Performance & UX (Core Web Vitals)

• LCP < 2.5s: hero image as fetchpriority="high", width/height set.
• CLS < 0.1: reserve space for images, badges, and embeds.
• JS diet: remove unused apps; defer non-critical scripts.

6) Internal linking (bilingual)

Use consistent “Resources” blocks (see bottom) and repeat links in both locales. Add data-gtm-cta labels for analytics.

7) Local & review signals

• Show UAE phone (+971), WhatsApp deep links, and Arabic address in footer.
• Embed reviews with schema (aggregateRating) where applicable.

8) Analytics & search console

• Create two GA4 views (EN/AR audiences via comparisons) and verify both / and /ar/ in Search Console.

9) QA checklist before publish

• Titles/descriptions in both languages; handles remain EN.
• Hreflang alternates present; no orphan pages; images have EN/AR alt text.
• Test RTL rendering and punctuation in Arabic.

Explore next

• Shopify CRO Hub
• Google Ads for Business (PPC)
• F&B Marketing Hub
• Clinic Marketing Hub
• Case Studies
• All Insights
• Related: Bakery & Pastry Macros
• Related: Perfume Ads That Sell in the GCC

Further reading

• Google: Article structured data
• Google: localized versions & hreflang
• PageSpeed Insights
• Shopify SEO docs
• Schema.org reference

 

 

اكتشف المزيد

• مركز تحسين معدل التحويل في Shopify
• إعلانات Google للأعمال (PPC)
• مركز تسويق المطاعم
• مركز تسويق العيادات
• دراسات الحالة
• مدونة الرؤى
• مقال ذو صلة: لقطات المخبوزات
• مقال ذو صلة: إعلانات العطور في الخليج

مراجع موثوقة

• مخططات المقالات من Google
• إرشادات الصفحات المترجمة و hreflang
• PageSpeed Insights
• مستندات SEO في Shopify
• مرجع Schema.org