Overview of Digital Marketing in Saudi Arabia in 2022

Due to the growing population and nearly 34.88 million internet users, the people of Saudi Arabia are embracing tremendous digital marketing opportunities, and the demand for purchasing online goods and services is also high in the country. You may know the most recent Saudi Arabia’s GDP per capita was 18691.25 US dollars in 2020, and on average, the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is equal to 148 percent of the world. 

Overall, you can understand that half of the population contributes to online growth in Saudi Arabia. The reason for this can be the migration of many individuals to KSA.

About one-third of the residents of KSA are immigrants from other countries, like India, Pakistan, Arab, the Philippines, and more. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has become the third-largest middle east country due to the estimated 15% of the world’s reserved oil and the extremely low tax rate that may make the families rich and increase their discretionary income for goods and services that they can buy online.

However, the people in Saudi are religious, and they acquire the teachings of the Koran and believe more in Islamic rituals. This thing can bring some challenges to marketers’ life, but the cultural sensitivity of Saudi Arabia can offer as many opportunities and unique ways to target a specific audience.

 

Most Visited Websites in Saudi Arabia

The residents of Saudi Arabia spend a lot of time on the web. You should also check the list of websites that are very popular in Saudi Arabia

• YouTube.com
• Whatsapp.com
• Google.com
• Twittr.com
• Microsoftonline.com
• Microsoft.com
• Google.com.sa
• Facebook.com
• Zoom.us
• Madrasati.sa

 

Top Regional Websites

Below, we have mentioned one of the top regional websites targeted by Arabic speakers.

• Madrasati.sa
• Google.com.sa
• Kooora.com
• Moe.gov.sa
• Faselhd.pro
• Amazon.sa
• Noon.com
• 3isk.video
• Iam.gov.sa
• Haraj.com.sa

 

State of Search Engine Marketing in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, Google holds 97% share of the search engine market, and the rest of the percentage goes to both Yahoo and Bing. The residents of Saudi also use the most popular search engines in Arabic, such as Arabji, MarWeb, Ajeeb, Egypt, Iraq Directory, Egypt.com, Masrawy, Anya, etc. No matter how good the percentage of search engines, but one thing that is needed to discuss is that Saudi Arabians are very loyal to brands, especially if they have a good presence in the market.

 

Current State of eCommerce in Saudi Arabia

Revenue in the eCommerce market of the kingdom is projected to grow by US$12.19 billion in 2022. This means there is a broad scope of eCommerce business in Saudi Arabia.

However, 75% of Saudi Arabians still purchase goods and services using COD (cash on delivery). Yet, digital payment transactions increased by 75% in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi consumers preferred online shopping over cash withdrawals and other payment options.

Electronics are the most bought products on the internet. People also search for the software when you include applications in the product list. You may know that the size of the Saudi eCommerce market is extensive, but after 5 to 10 years, we can expect huge growth in the industry as the country’s population starts to embrace online shopping.

 

Currently, the companies that are becoming successful in this region and having a solid digital presence in the eCommerce sector are:

• Noon.com
• Amazon.sa
• Namshi.com
• Cobone.com

Are you also planning to get eCommerce app development services? Talk with one of our experts at Alareeb ICT and create an eCommerce strategy and your application with us.

 

Understand the SEO State in Saudi Arabia

The number of searches comes from the Persian Gulf region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Below quarter of searches is performed in English, which means Arabic can become the most influential language for SEO. The best part is the websites of KSA can rank well with relatively low domain authority and the least number of quality links.

 

Google also gives more priority to local websites. One can obtain a great benefit by choosing the Google.com.sa domain because it comes under local websites and rank faster on the local search engines.

In comparison to other countries and all over the world, SEO efforts can produce better results in Saudi Arabia because it requires fewer links to rank well and obtain success. Very little attention is paid to citing sources because both writers and publishers feel comfortable while acquiring information from the sources. Also, citing gives no benefits because most links fail when they link back to the source.

You must remember that other websites face similar challenges while acquiring organic links. Therefore, if you want to bring a positive impact on your Arabic and English SEO campaigns, try to choose some regional links to gain a small success in Saudi Arabia.

 

Is Paid Search Popular in Saudi Arabia?

PPC is not very effective for most niches in Saudi Arabia, but today, low-cost PPC ads give new ideas to businesses for advertising on Google. In some niches, especially in the fashion industry, content producers place bids on top keywords so that they can captivate the readers’ attention and make their websites successful.

 

Difference Between PPC in US and PPC in Saudi Arabia

When searching for the car manufacturer in Toyota, it becomes challenging to search ads in Arabic in Saudi Arabia. But, when the same keyword is used in English for the United States, one can expect a maximum of 10 results on the first page of search results.

All in all, you can understand that PPC niches are less competitive in Saudi Arabia. Yet, product listing ads can appear well in the Saudi PPC ad space, and the people who are adopting advertising mediums in the KSA will soon experience the best results.

 

Geo-Targeting Value in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has several cities with over millions of people. Some of the major cities of Saudi Arabia are the holy city of Makkah, the holy city of Madinah, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Yanbu and the Jubail industrial area. A unique digital marketing strategy can work wonders by targeting different cities in Saudi Arabia.

 

Before targeting these cities, you need to know some information in detail:

Jeddah

Jeddah is the right place for the people looking to target a demographic because it is a less conservative area on the west coast of Saudi Arabia and offers new concepts and ideas to run many digital campaigns in the region. 

Riyadh

Riyadh is the largest capital city of Saudi Arabia, with over 7 million population. The city has upper and middle-class consumers and a great budget to purchase a wide variety of products and services. Make sure you must have an excellent online marketing strategy with support from any best digital marketing agency in Riyadh to focus on your targeted customers.

AI Medina

AI Medina is the holy pilgrimage site and the second holiest city in Islam. This city has about 1.300 million residents and has become the second largest and most popular tourist destination for Muslims. If you are planning to focus on the tourism business, you can consider it as a great place and make some efforts for internet marketing and an online business.

Mecca

Many Muslims travel to Mecca every year because it is the # holy city and attracts millions of new visitors. Thus, it can be another city for local merchants and travel companies.

 

State of Social Media in Saudi Arabia

According to Global Media Insight, the total population of Saudi Arabia is about 35.08 million, and it has nearly 33.58 million internet users with 27.80 active social media users. Similarly, as per the reports of Hootsuite, Saudi has the largest group of people who stay active on different social media channels, such as Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. Furthermore, Saudis spend a maximum of 3 hours and 02 minutes regularly on social media. 

Do you want to grow your social media faster? Consult with our experts today. At Alareeb ICT, we are a digital marketing agency in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and have an experienced team who can help you develop a profitable site and focus on many activities from lead generation, content marketing, social media and much more.

 

State of YouTube in Saudi Arabia 

The interesting fact that you need to know is that Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest YouTube users. The people of this kingdom not only watch videos but also create video content for this social media platform. In order to target Saudi Arabians, many websites today offer display advertising services in the Middle East. Alareeb ICT is also one of the best digital marketing companies in Saudi Arabia that you can choose to advertise your business and target mainly Saudi Arabians.

 

Mobile Marketing in Saudi Arabia

In today’s world, your customers are using mobile devices. From tablets to smartphones, we all do many more things on mobile devices. This means having the best mobile marketing strategy from any mobile app development company is crucial.

As per the report of the Data portal, more than half of the Saudi Arabian population is known as smartphone users. Even older people receive a first-class experience today when they operate the internet on their mobile phones. Nearly 96.6% of users have smartphones to watch online videos, which indicates that advertising on YouTube can give a great benefit to many businesses. 50% of people choose search engines to discover any new brand and obtain the information about any products.

Similarly, 60% of people prefer social media networks to inquire about a new brand or product. Accordingly, if you are planning to market on social media or start a small business online, you can consider one of the best digital marketing services in Saudi Arabia. The reason to choose digital marketing in Arabic or an Arab digital marketer is the unique strategy that works well in the middle east region.

 

At Alareeb ICT, our experts have the best practices with Arabic digital marketing strategy that includes

• Ability to make your brand popular in different markets as you may know Arabic is divided into various markets, such as Egypt, GCC, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, etc. That’s why we can help you get different approaches and strategies for different Arabic markets, and this strategy is provided as per the popular social media platforms, consumer behaviour, culture, purchasing power, and traditions.
• Understanding the advertising and marketing landscape for the specific market and implementing the tactics accordingly.
• Targeting the local holidays, seasons, trends, and average sessions.
• Focusing on developing fully-customized SEO in Arabic and building PPC strategy as per the local key terms and markets.
• Building content marketing and PR strategy for each target market.
• Providing digital advertising budget for each market and on an individual basis.
• Comprehensive language localization for each market.

 

Why is Digital Marketing Important in Saudi Arabia?

You can define your business goal, develop a specialized digital marketing plan, and target a relevant audience with digital marketing. Also, when building a strategy for digital marketing, it becomes easy to run a campaign to attain the best possible outcomes.

In the 21st century, whether it is robotic appliances, refrigerators, home speakers, wearable health monitors, or smart home security systems, everything is digital. Thus, integrating digital marketing into every part of the business is necessary and it can help you deliver value to your customers. Otherwise, it would be challenging for your company to compete in the market. 

 

Why Choose Alareeb ICT Digital Marketing Services?

The reason why you should choose us for digital marketing services is that we at Alareeb ICT are the best Saudi digital marketing agency for e-marketing/online marketing in Riyadh, Jeddah, and more. 

We also offer a wide variety of services from content marketing, search engine optimization, web design and development, and social media marketing that you can find beneficial for producing exceptional results.

Whether it is a matter of increasing reach, engaging your target audience, improving your website experience, or providing more leads, we can help your company in every way and promise to grow your business in the large Saudi Arabia market.

 

Get your free quote and book a consultation with one of our experts at Alareeb ICT for digital marketing.

We have also published our eBook that focuses on digital marketing and helps you know why Alareeb ICT is the right company for your digital business.