Why a translated Arabic website costs you customers
When an international company wants an Arabic version of their site, the path most agencies take is: send the English copy to a translator, get it back, paste it into the CMS, flip the layout to right-to-left, ship. Six weeks of work, looks done.
Then conversion on the Arabic version sits at 30-40% of the English version, and nobody knows why.
We do. We rebuild Arabic versions of international sites for a living. The reason is rarely the translation itself. It's everything around it.
What "feels translated" actually means
A native Arabic reader can tell within five seconds whether a site was built for them or translated for them. The clues are small but additive:
- Headlines that are grammatically Arabic but use English sentence rhythm
- A "Sign Up" button translated as "تسجيل" — accurate, but no Egyptian, Saudi, or Emirati would say that in conversation
- Numbers, dates, and prices shown in a way that fights the reading direction
- A testimonials section with photos of American customers and Anglo names
- A help center where the top articles are obvious machine translations of US content
Each one is small. The sum is "this company doesn't take us seriously." That's the conversion gap, and it's worth thousands of dollars per month for any company doing real volume in the Arab market.
What we change
Copy that reads like it was written, not translated
We hire native Arabic copywriters who understand the dialect difference between Egyptian, Gulf, and Levantine markets. A button in Egypt might say "ابدأ دلوقتي." The same button in Saudi Arabia might say "ابدأ الآن." Same meaning. Different feel. Conversion responds to the difference.
Real social proof from the region
If your testimonials are all American, get Arab ones before launching the Arabic site. If you don't have any yet, leave the section out rather than show foreign-looking proof.
Currency, numbers, and dates in the local conventions
EGP for Egypt, SAR for Saudi, AED for the UAE. Default to the right one based on geolocation. Show the right calendar system. Use Arabic-Indic or Western Arabic numerals consistently based on your audience research — many digital users prefer Western Arabic numerals even in Arabic text.
Layout that respects the reading direction
This is the technical part. Right-to-left isn't a CSS toggle. Icons that should mirror (chevrons, back arrows) need to mirror. Icons that shouldn't (logos, brand marks, play buttons) need to stay. Forms need to align text to the start. Phone numbers stay left-to-right inside Arabic sentences. These are the kind of details that take a week to get right and you only notice if they're wrong.
Imagery that reflects the region
Photos of people in your hero section, your team page, your case studies — they matter. Generic stock photography of an American office is fine on the English site and reads as "we have nothing for you" on the Arabic one.
Cost vs payoff
A proper Arabic build on top of an existing English site is typically 25-40% of the original build cost, depending on how deep the existing localization hooks go. For companies doing meaningful business in MENA, that investment usually pays back within months — the conversion lift is that material.
If you're already running an Arabic version of your site and it feels translated, you don't need to start over. We usually fix the highest-impact problems in two to four weeks and the rest in phases. The fastest wins are almost always copy and imagery, not the technical RTL work.
When to invest
If you're getting more than 5% of your traffic from Arab countries and conversion there is lagging the rest of your business, the math has already worked out. The question is who builds the better version, not whether you should.