ARABIC · ENGLISH · RTL · DUBAI

Arabic & English Website Design in Dubai

I'm Emad Yahya — a native Arabic speaker in Dubai who designs and builds bilingual Arabic-English websites the right way round: right-to-left from the first screen, not an English site mirrored at the last minute. Arabic typography, RTL layout logic and hreflang SEO are design inputs from day one, not an export setting.

The proof is the site you are reading: it ships its service pages as English/Arabic pairs — prerendered static HTML in both languages, hreflang-linked, with the Arabic written by hand, not machine-translated. And my Pharmacy POS is Arabic-first production software built for a real counter — RTL as the foundation, not the add-on.

Why most "Arabic versions" fail

Most software and websites that "support Arabic" are English builds flipped at the last minute: mirrored layouts, machine-translated labels, numbers sitting awkwardly against text running the other way, icons pointing the wrong direction. An Arabic reader notices within seconds — and what they conclude is that the Arabic audience was an afterthought.

In Dubai that is an expensive signal to send. Arabic is not a checkbox on this market; for many of your customers it is the language of trust. A bilingual site either treats both languages as first-class or it quietly tells half its visitors they are second.

Designed twice, built once

This site, and an Arabic-first POS

This website is its own case study: 25+ prerendered pages across English and Arabic, service pages shipped as EN↔AR pairs with hreflang alternates in the head and the sitemap, Arabic pages rendered fully RTL in Cairo. It is the exact bilingual architecture I build for clients, running in production on the page you are reading.

The second proof is harder: my Pharmacy POS is Arabic-first production software, designed right-to-left from the first screen for daily counter use — fast, error-free checkout in Arabic, with live price sync. Designing Arabic-first software that staff use all day is a stricter test than translating a brochure site, and it is a test this build passed.

Two languages, twice the search surface

Most Dubai businesses publish in English only, which leaves Arabic search queries far less contested. A properly built Arabic version is not just a courtesy to Arabic-speaking customers — it is a second set of rankings your competitors are not even fighting for.

The technical layer has to be right for that to work: hreflang pairs so Google understands the two versions are one site, Arabic metadata written for Arabic queries, and prerendered HTML in both languages so search engines and AI assistants can read every word without executing JavaScript. That layer ships as standard in my builds — it is the same layer running on this site.

BILINGUAL WORK

FAQ

How much does a bilingual Arabic-English website cost in Dubai?

More than a single-language site, much less than two sites — both languages share one codebase and one design system, so the second language is an addition, not a duplicate build. It is priced per scope, and you get a fixed written quote within 24 hours of your brief.

Is the Arabic machine-translated?

No. I am a native Arabic speaker and the Arabic is written, not machine-translated — in a real marketing register, matched to how the English version sells rather than word-for-word converted from it.

What is hreflang and why does my site need it?

hreflang tags tell Google that your English page and its Arabic twin are two versions of one page, so the right language is served to the right searcher instead of the two versions competing for the same query. It is a strong signal, not a guarantee — search engines decide what to show. Every EN/AR pair I ship carries hreflang alternates in the page head and the sitemap, the same setup running on this site.

Can you add an Arabic version to my existing English website?

Yes — but it is real design work, not a plugin toggle: an RTL layout pass so grids, navigation and icons reverse logically, an Arabic type system, written Arabic copy, and hreflang wiring between the versions. Done properly, the Arabic version feels designed, not flipped.

Which font do you use for Arabic?

A typeface designed for Arabic, chosen per brand and tuned for weight and line-height — never a system fallback. This site pairs Kanit for English with Cairo for Arabic; your pairing is picked to match your brand's voice in both scripts.

Does an Arabic version actually help SEO in Dubai?

Yes — Arabic queries are a second search surface most Dubai competitors ignore because they publish in English only. With Arabic metadata, hreflang pairs and prerendered Arabic HTML, your site can rank for searches your competitors are not even present in.

Will the Arabic site be slower or live on a separate domain?

Neither. Both languages live in one codebase on your domain — Arabic pages under their own paths — and every page is prerendered to static HTML, so both versions load fast and are fully readable by search engines and AI assistants.

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Emad Yahya — portfolio · emaadyahya4@gmail.com · WhatsApp +971 566 392 647