Bilingual SEO for Shopify in the UAE: Markets + hreflang Guide (2025)

Make Arabic/English work with Google. This UAE-focused guide shows the exact Shopify setup for Markets, translations, hreflang, and clean internal links.

TL;DR

Use separate URLs for English and Arabic, publish both via Shopify Markets, let Shopify output hreflang, and mirror internal links and content in both languages.

1) Real language URLs (not just UI strings)

• Publish English + Arabic with Shopify Markets and Translate & Adapt.
• Translate titles, metas, H1s, URL slugs, and image alt text.
• Languages appear in the XML sitemap and Shopify outputs hreflang for published locales.

2) hreflang that actually helps Google

• Each EN page references its AR counterpart and vice-versa (reciprocal).
• Add x-default to your primary market homepage.

3) Internal linking: build EN/AR twins

• From every EN post, link to relevant EN service hubs; do the mirror in AR.
• Use descriptive anchors: “Shopify speed optimisation in Dubai”, not “click here”.

Hubs to link: Shopify Website Creation & CRO — UAE · Case Studies

4) Pitfalls to avoid

• Soft translations on the same URL (no alternate URL) → duplication and wrong language in Search.
• Half-translated menus that strand AR users on EN sections.

References

• Google — Multilingual & hreflang fundamentals
• Shopify — Markets languages & translation

Checklist (publish this week)

• EN + AR pages exist as distinct URLs and appear in the sitemap
• hreflang EN/AR + x-default present (spot-check View Source)
• Titles, metas, H1s, slugs, and image alts translated
• Internal links mirrored in both languages (service hubs + related posts)

FAQs