Arabic vs English Ads in the UAE and Saudi Arabia: What Our Lead Data Shows (2026)

Most advertisers in the UAE run their ads in English and treat Arabic as a translation job for later. Our lead data says that is often an expensive habit. Across the accounts we compared, Arabic-language leads cost 32 to 36 percent less than English leads, at a similar cost per click.

This article explains what we found, why it happens, when Arabic is the wrong choice, and how to set up Arabic campaigns on Google, Meta, Snapchat and TikTok so the saving actually reaches your cost per lead.

The headline finding

When we put Arabic and English campaigns side by side, the click prices were similar. The cost per lead was not. Arabic leads came in 32 to 36 percent cheaper.

Cost per lead is cost per click divided by conversion rate. If the click price is about the same and the lead is a third cheaper, the Arabic traffic converted roughly one and a half times as often. In plain terms: for every two English leads, the same budget in Arabic produced about three.

The click price being similar tells you the difference isn't about cheaper auctions. Our read is that a message lands better in the reader's first language, and that few advertisers build proper Arabic ads and landing pages, so a well built one stands out. That part is our interpretation. The 32 to 36 percent is the measurement.

How big the Arabic market is

Keyword Planner makes the size of the gap obvious. These are average monthly Google searches in Arabic, pulled in September 2026.

In English, "arabic ads" gets about 140 searches a month in the UAE and about 140 in Saudi Arabia. People are actively looking for help with this.

The takeaway: in Saudi Arabia, Arabic is the main market and English is the side channel. In the UAE, Arabic is the smaller search market, but it is still a market most English-only advertisers ignore.

What Arabic leads cost against English, with real numbers

Here is the wider context from our accounts, so the 32 to 36 percent sits against something concrete.

Saudi click prices in our accounts ran from AED 1.33 to 6.86, far below the UAE legal figure. Industry and market drive most of that gap, so don't read the Saudi numbers as a language effect. The 32 to 36 percent figure is the like-for-like comparison: same kind of campaign, similar click price, different language.

To put the saving in practice: on the same budget and click price, a 32 to 36 percent lower cost per lead means about three Arabic enquiries for every two English ones. Same click price, same budget, more enquiries.

When Arabic is the wrong choice

Cheaper leads are only cheaper if you can use them.

If your customer is an international expat, English is your market. Many Dubai businesses sell mostly to expats. For them, Arabic campaigns can produce cheap leads that don't match the customer they actually serve. Check your existing customer base before you move budget.

If your team can't answer in Arabic, don't advertise in Arabic. An Arabic lead that gets an English reply, or a slow reply, is a wasted lead. Make sure whoever picks up the phone or the WhatsApp message can hold the conversation.

If your landing page is a machine translation, fix that first. Readers notice immediately, and conversion rate is where the whole saving comes from.

If your product only exists in English, say so. An Arabic ad for an English-only service creates enquiries that end in disappointment.

How to set up Arabic campaigns properly

Separate campaigns, not mixed ad groups

Run Arabic and English as separate campaigns with their own budgets. That lets you see the cost per lead for each language, move budget between them, and write ads and landing pages that fit each audience. Mixing both languages in one campaign hides the difference you are trying to measure.

Write for the Gulf, not a generic Arabic

Arabic isn't one voice. Copy written in Gulf Arabic, or in clean Modern Standard Arabic with Gulf phrasing where it fits, reads as local. Copy in another regional dialect reads as imported. Have ads and landing pages written, or at least checked, by a native speaker from the market you are targeting.

Arabic keywords are not translations of English keywords

People search differently in each language. Some Arabic searches use transliterated brand or product names, some use Arabic terms, and some mix both. Build the Arabic keyword list from how your Arabic-speaking customers actually talk, then check it against the search terms report after launch.

Right-to-left landing pages

An Arabic landing page needs proper right-to-left layout, Arabic form labels, and a form that accepts Arabic names and local phone formats. Test the full flow on a phone before spending a dirham on traffic.

Track leads by language

Tag every lead with the language of the campaign that produced it, and carry that tag into your CRM. Without it, you can't prove whether Arabic leads close as well as they convert.

How to test Arabic against English fairly

A language test is easy to get wrong, and a bad test can talk you out of a good idea. These are the rules we follow.

1. Same offer, same service. Only the language should change. If the Arabic campaign promotes a different product or a different price, you are testing the offer, not the language.

2. Equal quality on both sides. Give the Arabic campaign the same care as the English one: native copy, a proper landing page, the same conversion tracking. A rushed Arabic campaign against a polished English one proves nothing.

3. Enough data before deciding. A handful of leads in either language is noise. Wait until both campaigns have a meaningful number of leads before comparing cost per lead.

4. Judge on customers, not just leads. A cheaper lead that never buys is not cheaper. Follow both groups through to a sale and compare cost per customer.

5. Check who answered. If Arabic leads were answered by someone less comfortable in Arabic, the close rate will reflect that, not the quality of the lead.

Run it this way and you will have an answer you can actually act on, in your own market and your own numbers.

Channel notes

Google Search. Keep match types tight and read the Arabic search terms report by hand, the same way you would in English. Our Google Ads in Dubai page explains how we run Search for UAE advertisers, and our PPC agency in Dubai page covers how Search, Meta and Snapchat budgets work together.

Meta. Arabic creative on Instagram and Facebook works best when it is made for Arabic from the start, not an English ad with translated captions. Lead forms should be in Arabic end to end.

Snapchat and TikTok. The Keyword Planner numbers above show how central these platforms are in Saudi Arabia. For Saudi campaigns, Arabic is the default language, and creative should be native to the platform and the dialect. For our work in the Kingdom, see Big AL in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi example

For Sokkat Al Teeb, a fragrance brand in Saudi Arabia, our campaigns delivered 4.5x return on ad spend. In a market where Arabic searches outnumber English ones many times over, building for Arabic first is simply how you reach the buyer.

FAQ

Are Arabic ads cheaper than English ads in the UAE?

In our data, Arabic-language leads cost 32 to 36 percent less than English leads at a similar cost per click. The click price wasn't the difference. The conversion rate was.

Should I translate my English ads into Arabic?

Translation is a starting point at best. Arabic ads and landing pages perform better when they are written for Arabic readers, ideally by a native speaker from your target market.

Do I need a separate Arabic landing page?

Yes. A right-to-left page with Arabic copy and an Arabic form is what turns the cheaper click into a cheaper lead.

Is Arabic more important in Saudi Arabia than in the UAE?

Yes. Keyword Planner shows about 18,100 monthly searches for "اعلانات جوجل" (Google ads) in Saudi Arabia against about 1,600 in the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, Arabic is the main market.

What if most of my customers are expats?

Then English is likely your main market. Test Arabic with a small, separate budget and judge it on closed customers, not just lead cost.

Getting started

Start with one Arabic campaign alongside your best English one, with its own budget, its own landing page and leads tagged by language. Give it enough time to collect a fair sample, then compare cost per qualified lead and cost per customer.

Big AL is a performance marketing agency in Dubai and a Google Partner since 2021, running Arabic and English campaigns across Google, Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and LinkedIn in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. If you want to know what Arabic would do for your cost per lead, get in touch.