Arabic Domain Names (IDN): How Does a Domain in Arabic Letters Like .السعودية Work?

Your customers know your company by its Arabic name, but they hesitate when spelling it in English. An Arabic domain solves this, because people type the name as they say it. It works in a special way, though, and you should understand it before registering one.

What is an Arabic domain (IDN)? #

IDN stands for Internationalized Domain Name: a domain written in non-Latin letters, such as Arabic. There are two kinds:

• Fully Arabic: both the name and the extension are Arabic, such as your-company.السعودية. The .السعودية extension is the official Arabic version of .sa.
• Arabic name, Latin extension: an Arabic name with an English extension, on extensions that support it.

Why does it sometimes show as xn--? #

The internet domain system only understands Latin letters. So the Arabic name is converted automatically into a technical form that starts with xn--, called Punycode. For example, the .السعودية extension is stored like this:

.السعودية  =  .xn--mgberp4a5d4ar

Modern browsers show the Arabic name, but some apps, websites and control panels show the technical form. This is normal, and both lead to the same website.

Pros and limits #

The best way to use it #

1. Register both names: the Arabic domain for marketing, and the English one for email and the main website.
2. Pick one main website: and redirect the other domain to it with a permanent 301 redirect, so Google does not see duplicate content. Read Redirecting a web page.
3. Use the English domain for email: so your messages reach every app without problems. Read Creating a company email address.

Frequently asked questions #