Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Google Ads
Google Ads Management in Riyadh
We run Google Ads for Riyadh and Saudi businesses in Arabic and English, measured by the calls, WhatsApp chats, bookings and orders they produce. We build the landing pages and tracking as well, and plan campaigns around the Saudi rules for property, health and financial advertising. Accounts are managed by our team in Dubai.
Talk to us about RiyadhWhat's included
Separate Arabic and English campaigns
Keyword lists built natively in each language, with Arabic spelling variants and Saudi phrasing, and ad copy written for each audience rather than translated.
Targeting by district, not just city
Radius and location targeting around your branches, so a clinic in Al Olaya isn't paying for clicks from people an hour's drive away.
Tracking you can check yourself
GA4 and Tag Manager tracking for calls, forms and WhatsApp clicks, imported into Google Ads so bidding chases real enquiries instead of cheap clicks.
Arabic landing pages
Fast right-to-left pages written for the keyword that triggered the ad, with the offer, proof and a WhatsApp button where a thumb can reach it.
Shopping, Performance Max and retargeting
For online stores, a clean Arabic and English product feed behind Shopping and Performance Max, plus YouTube and Display retargeting where the data supports it.
Ad-rule checks before launch
Sector rules from REGA, the SFDA or SAMA checked against your offer, and Google's advertiser verification completed, before any budget goes live.
Google Ads in Riyadh
Why Riyadh campaigns need two languages
Search for most services in Riyadh and the Arabic queries carry far more weight than the English ones. Advertisers who run English-only campaigns end up bidding against each other for a small pool of searches, while the bulk of the demand types in Arabic.
Running Arabic properly is more than switching the ad copy. A Riyadh customer searching for an AC repair might type صيانة مكيفات, تصليح مكيفات or a brand name in Latin letters. Each needs its own keywords, negative keywords and ad text. We build Arabic and English as separate campaigns so you can see what each language costs and returns.
Rules to clear before the ads go live
Saudi Arabia regulates advertising in several sectors more tightly than most markets. A campaign that ignores the rules can be disapproved by Google, or create problems with a regulator, which is worse.
- Real estate. Property ads need the advertiser to hold a FAL licence from REGA, and listings need their own advertising licence.
- Health products. The SFDA requires approval before advertising the products it supervises, from medicines to cosmetics and supplements.
- Financial services. SAMA has rules on how banks and finance companies advertise their products, and Google asks financial advertisers in many markets for proof of authorisation.
- Influencer content. If your campaign includes paid creators, they need a Mawthooq licence from the General Authority for Media Regulation.
We check these against your offer during setup, and complete Google’s advertiser verification with your Saudi company documents, so the account doesn’t freeze mid-campaign.
Timing around the Saudi calendar
Riyadh’s buying year has its own rhythm. Ramadan shifts browsing into the evening and late night, and categories like food, gifts and fashion swing hard either side of Eid. Saudi National Day on 23 September and Founding Day on 22 February bring retail promotions, and the White Friday sales season pulls e-commerce budgets into November. Riyadh Season fills the city with events and visitors.
We plan budgets and ad scheduling around these dates in advance, so you’re not raising bids the morning a sale starts.
Measuring what actually matters
Clicks are easy to buy. Enquiries are what you pay for. Every account we manage tracks:
- Calls from ads and from the website, with a minimum duration so misdials don’t count.
- WhatsApp clicks, which in Saudi Arabia are often the main way leads arrive.
- Form submissions and bookings, de-duplicated.
- Orders and revenue for stores, pulled from the platform into GA4.
Campaign links carry consistent UTM tags; our free UTM builder for campaign links is what we use for non-Google channels. Where your sales team works from a CRM, we connect it so you can see which keywords lead to closed deals.
Related services
Ads bring people to a page, so that page needs to be quick and in good Arabic; see Saudi website builds for Riyadh businesses. Leads should go straight into a CRM that follows up on WhatsApp. The full method is on our Google Ads and PPC management service. For our other work in the capital, see the Riyadh overview, and for campaigns on the west coast, Google Ads in Jeddah.
Selected work
How we work
- 01
Tracking audit
We check what your account currently counts as a conversion. If it's page views or a duplicated tag, Google has been optimising for the wrong thing.
- 02
Fix measurement
Tags, GA4 events, call and WhatsApp tracking and the CRM connection go in, and each is tested with a real submission.
- 03
Policy and permit check
For healthcare, property and financial services we check Google's policies and local advertising permits before launch, so ads aren't disapproved on day one.
- 04
Build or restructure
Campaigns, keywords, negatives, ads and landing pages built around the leads you want, in the languages your buyers search in.
- 05
Optimise weekly, report monthly
Search terms, bids and ads reviewed every week; once a month we tie spend to qualified leads and deals.
Questions
Should Google Ads in Riyadh run in Arabic or English?
Usually both, as separate campaigns. Arabic searches carry most of the demand for consumer and local services in Saudi Arabia, and they cost differently from English ones. English campaigns still make sense for B2B, expat and corporate audiences. Mixing both languages in one ad group muddies your data.
Do we need a licence to advertise property in Saudi Arabia?
Yes. Real estate advertising is limited to holders of a FAL licence from the Real Estate General Authority, and individual property ads need their own advertising licence through REGA. That applies to digital ads and social media as well as billboards, so we build the licence details into the campaign plan.
Can we advertise health products or clinics on Google in Saudi Arabia?
Often, with care. Products supervised by the SFDA, such as medicines, medical devices, supplements and cosmetics, need its approval before they're advertised. Google's own healthcare policies apply too, and some terms are restricted. We review your claims and keywords against both before launch.
What about Snapchat and TikTok ads?
Both are widely used in Saudi Arabia, especially by younger consumers. Our work centres on Google Ads, with Meta and LinkedIn where they fit. If your audience is mostly on Snapchat or TikTok, we'll say so, and set up tracking so those campaigns can be compared fairly with search.
How do you track WhatsApp leads from Google Ads?
We tag every WhatsApp button and link, record each click as a conversion in GA4 and Google Ads, and where a CRM is connected, match conversations back to the campaign that started them. That lets you see which keywords produce chats that turn into sales.
How much should we spend on Google Ads in Riyadh?
It depends on your category, the cost per click in Arabic and English for your keywords, and how many enquiries you can handle. We look at your market and current data first, then recommend a test budget sized to give useful results within a few weeks.