Getting your website to rank high in search engines in the Middle East is a common challenge these days.  With many viable market opportunities across the Middle East and North Africa online businesses want to take advantage of these opportunities.  However, getting visibility in Middle East search engines isn’t as easy as just setting up a well designed website.  In this post I will outline some of the major factors that go into determining whether or not a website will show up in the Middle East.

ccTLDs

As with just about any region of the world a country code top level domain (ccTLD) is possibly the strongest signal for getting a website to appear in a specific country.  The MENA region is no exception to this rule.  If you want to target a specific country like the UAE you would want to purchase a .ae domain name.  If you were targeting just Arabic speakers in that country it might even be worth while to purchase the Arabic version of the ccTLD for the UAE which is امارات.  Depending on the country you want to focus on in the region these domain names can vary in price and difficultly to attain.  If however your website offer is specifically tailored to one specific country in the Middle East it makes a lot of sense to have a country specific ccTLD.  In addition its preference to search engines many residents of the country you choose to target will prefer to click on a website with a country specific domain because of its increased relevance to them.  (more…)

If you are anything like me you have struggled to find a clear way to view Google analytics data for just Arabic traffic.  In this post I will explain one method I use to get a better picture of the Arabic traffic coming to the sites I work on.  First though, allow me explain a common way many look to find Arabic traffic.

Those familiar with Google Analytics are aware that within the Audience Demographics section of the GA dashboard you can view visitor language statistics.  When you drill down into that section you see the Language dashboard that looks something like this. (more…)

The Middle East has been a late bloomer when it comes to the arena of e-commerce but innovative payment methods like cash on delivery (COD) are opening up the region to growth in E-commerce revenues.  Given that many consumers in the Middle East don’t have or use credit cards, COD in the Middle East has become a popular payment method that allows Arab consumers to buy products online.

Cash on delivery isn’t new in the Middle East as many traditional retailers and shipping services have accepted this form of payment for decades if not centuries.  What is new is the idea to use this payment method in combination with e-commerce which traditionally has been done primarily through the use of credit cards. (more…)