Arabic keyword research: dialects, spelling and intent

Translating an English keyword list into Arabic is the most common mistake I see. People in Egypt and the Gulf often describe the same need with different words.

Spelling variants

• ة vs ه at the end of words
• أ / إ / ا written interchangeably
• ى vs ي
• Arabic words written in Latin letters

Dialect and market

I group terms by market first, then by intent. A page targeting Saudi buyers may need different headings and examples than one targeting Egypt, even for the same service.

Intent before volume

A smaller term with clear buying intent is often worth more than a large informational one. I map each group to one page so pages don't compete with each other.

Build a page-level keyword map

• Record the query, target market, intent, current ranking URL and proposed destination page.
• Inspect search results in the target market: do they favour product pages, category pages or guides?
• Group spelling variants when they express the same intent. Do not create a separate page for every spelling or force misspellings into copy.
• Give the writer a brief covering the reader’s question, headings, supporting information and relevant internal links.
• After publication, compare query groups and destination pages in Search Console before changing the map.