Most European brands that launch Arabic Google Ads make the same mistakes. Not from lack of budget, but from applying the same logic that works in their home markets to an environment where the rules are different.
This article covers the most common technical mistakes and how to avoid them.
Mistake 1: generic geographic targeting “Arabic-speaking countries”
Google Ads allows you to select a list of countries or use linguistic affinity audiences. The usual mistake is activating Arabic language targeting without targeting by country, or grouping all Arabic markets into a single campaign.
The problem is that CPC, user behaviour and search intent are completely different between markets:
| Market | Average CPC (services sector) | Particularity |
|---|---|---|
| UAE | $2.5 - $5 | High competition, high purchasing power users |
| Saudi Arabia | $1.5 - $3.5 | Mass market, mobile-first |
| Egypt | $0.1 - $0.4 | Very low CPC, high volume, lower conversion |
| Morocco | $0.08 - $0.3 | Arabic/French mix in searches |
| Kuwait | $2 - $4 | Similar to UAE, small but qualified market |
If you group UAE and Egypt in the same campaign, the algorithm optimises towards Egypt (more clicks for less money) and loses the highest-value market.
Solution: separate campaigns by market or, at minimum, by cluster (Gulf, Levant, North Africa).
Mistake 2: Arabic keywords without native validation
Arabic keywords are usually extracted from SEMrush, Ahrefs or Keyword Planner. The problem is that these tools underestimate or simply do not detect searches in colloquial Arabic or with local spelling variations.
In Arabic, the same word can be written differently depending on the country:
- “تأمين” (insurance) may appear as “تامين” without the hamza
- “هاتف” (telephone) vs “موبايل” vs “جوال” — three different words for the same product, with different dominance by country
Solution: validate the keyword list with a native speaker of the target market before activating the campaign.
Mistake 3: incorrectly configured match types in Arabic
In English, Broad Match is already risky. In Arabic, it is directly uncontrollable. Google’s algorithm for Arabic has less historical data, which means Broad Match generates far less precise semantic expansions.
Recommended configuration from scratch:
- Phase 1 (first 4-6 weeks): Exact Match and Phrase Match only.
- Phase 2: Analyse the Search Term Report. Add converting variants.
- Phase 3: If volume justifies it, introduce Broad Match with Smart Bidding and a solid negative keyword list.
Mistake 4: ads in MSA Arabic for colloquial dialect audiences
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is understandable to all Arabic speakers, but it is not how anyone speaks in daily life. Using MSA in ads works for formal sectors (banking, health). For consumer products, tourism or ecommerce, formal register creates distance.
Solution by market:
- Saudi Arabia: Gulf Arabic with MSA in headlines, Gulf colloquial in descriptions
- Egypt: Egyptian Arabic in consumer product campaigns
- Morocco: Arabic/French mix depending on product and segment
- UAE: Gulf Arabic for local audiences, MSA for expatriate audiences
Mistake 5: landing pages without RTL optimisation
A click on an Arabic ad that leads to a landing page in English has a predictable bounce rate: very high. But even when the landing is in Arabic, the most common mistake is having it laid out in LTR with the text simply translated.
Arabic is RTL. This affects the direction of text, the position of CTAs, forms and images with overlaid text.
Google penalises in Quality Score landing pages with a high bounce rate. A poorly laid-out RTL landing directly impacts CPC and Ad Rank.
Mistake 6: conversions not configured for MENA markets
In Arabic markets, especially Gulf, the phone remains the primary conversion channel for real estate, health, education and B2B. If the campaign optimises towards form submissions and the user prefers to call, the algorithm has no real data.
Conversion configurations for MENA:
- Call tracking with local numbers by market
- Call conversion from the ad (Call Extensions)
- WhatsApp Business as a conversion destination — in Morocco and the Levant it is the dominant channel
- Micro-conversions: time on page, scroll depth, contact page visit
Mistake 7: not separating campaigns by device
Arabic traffic is predominantly mobile — in Saudi Arabia and UAE it exceeds 85% in many sectors. Bids, copy and landing pages should be optimised specifically for mobile, not as a secondary version of the desktop campaign.
If you manage Arabic Google Ads campaigns and want a technical audit, request information here.