Google Ads in Saudi Arabia: A Guide for Online Stores

Someone in Riyadh types "جوال سامسونج" or "running shoes" into Google because they want to buy, and soon.

That's what makes Google Ads worth it for a Saudi online store. Social ads interrupt people, while Google answers them.

You'll set up Arabic and English Search, Shopping and Performance Max in riyals, conversion tracking on Salla, Zid or Shopify, and a first-month budget with real numbers.

Why does Google Ads work for Saudi online stores?

Google captures demand that already exists, because people searching a product name are further along than people scrolling Snapchat.

A few things make Saudi Arabia a good market for it:

• One search engine. About 94% of Saudi searches run on Google, so one account reaches almost everyone.
• Arabic is less crowded. Many international advertisers bid only in English. Arabic clicks are often cheaper for local consumer searches.
• Shopping shows your price before the click. Saudi shoppers compare you with Amazon.sa and noon, and Shopping puts you in that comparison.
• YouTube is huge. It reaches more Saudis than Snapchat or Instagram, and Performance Max can use it for you.

For the social side of your plan, see our guides to Snapchat ads in Saudi Arabia and TikTok ads in Saudi Arabia.

Which campaign types should a Saudi store run?

Start with two campaigns: Search and Shopping (or Performance Max). Add YouTube and remarketing once sales flow.

Performance Max picks placements and bids for you. It works best with clean purchase tracking, so set that up first.

How do you pick Arabic and English keywords?

Build Arabic first, in the words Saudis actually type. Then add English in separate ad groups, with separate ads.

Here's why dialect matters. Google Trends data for Saudi Arabia shows clear winners:

Saudi searchers also write casual question words like ابي ("I want"), وش ("what") and وين ("where"). Add them to long-tail keywords, for example "ابي شنطة لابتوب".

A few setup choices save money from day one:

• Location: Presence only. Target people in Saudi Arabia, not people "interested in" it.
• Spelling variants. Arabic words change with hamza, taa marbuta and plurals. Cover the main forms.
• Negative keywords. Block "مستعمل" (used), "حراج" (classifieds) and "وظائف" (jobs) unless you sell those.
• Phone-first ads. Keep headlines short, and test your Arabic landing page on a phone.

Want the full method? Our Arabic keyword research guide covers dialects, MSA and Arabizi.

How do you set up Shopping and Performance Max for Saudi Arabia?

Google Shopping is fully supported in Saudi Arabia, with prices in SAR and feeds in Arabic or English. Merchant Center setup, free listings and feed fixes work the same as in the UAE, so follow our Google Shopping UAE guide and change three things for Saudi Arabia.

First, prices. Your feed price must include the 15% VAT and match the product page exactly. A kettle priced at SAR 100 before VAT goes in the feed at SAR 115.

Second, language. In the UAE you can lead in English, but Saudi shoppers search in Arabic first. Make your first feed Arabic, pointing to Arabic product pages, then add an English feed with English URLs.

Third, sale prices. A discounted price in your feed counts as a promotion, so it needs a Ministry of Commerce discount licence. It costs SAR 300 per store, and our guide to VAT-inclusive pricing covers the pricing rules.

How do you track sales on Salla, Zid and Shopify?

Tracking tells Google which clicks became orders, and without it Performance Max is guessing.

1

Create a purchase conversion

In Google Ads, add a website conversion called Purchase, counted once per order, with the order value. Use SAR if your store sells in riyals.

2

Salla: connect from the marketing tools

In your Salla dashboard, open the marketing tracking tools and add your Google tag, or install a Google app from the Salla App Store. Add the Merchant Center app there too.

3

Zid: install the Google integration

Install the Google app from the Zid App Market and sign in with the account that owns your Google Ads. Then link it to Merchant Center for your feed.

4

Shopify: use the Google & YouTube app

The app installs the Google tag, sends purchases with values and syncs your feed. Turn on enhanced conversions in Google Ads for more accurate matching.

5

Add GA4 and consent

Link Google Analytics 4 to Google Ads and run a cookie banner with consent mode, so you stay in line with Saudi data protection rules.

6

Place a test order

Buy something cheap from an ad click on your phone. Check that one purchase, with the right value, shows in Google Ads within a day.

Running Salla? Check that the purchase fires once per order, not on every refresh of the thank-you page.

How much does Google Ads cost in Saudi Arabia?

You pay per click, and you set the daily budget. Saudi agency Alshammari puts retail and ecommerce search clicks at SAR 1.5–6 before VAT.

Beauty runs higher, at SAR 3–10. Generic product terms cost the most, because Amazon.sa and noon bid on them too. Keyword Planner then shows forecasts for your own keywords.

Worked example: SAR 9,000 in the first month

Picture a Riyadh kitchenware store with an average order of SAR 280, VAT included.

After product cost, delivery, payment fees and COD refusals, it keeps SAR 110 per order before ads. That's its break-even cost per order.

It spends SAR 300 a day, split across three campaigns:

The store makes SAR 23,800 in sales, a ROAS of 2.6x. ROAS is return on ad spend: revenue divided by ad spend.

At SAR 106 per order, it's just under its SAR 110 break-even. That's a good first month, since accounts get cheaper as Google learns.

The split matters more than the total. Arabic Search brings orders at SAR 80, while English costs SAR 169 per order. So month two moves budget into Arabic and the best PMax products.

When should you push budget? Ramadan and White Friday

Saudi demand comes in waves, and auction prices rise with them, so plan budgets around the calendar rather than the month.

Two seasons matter most:

• Ramadan. Expected to start around 8 February 2027. Start campaigns a week before, because 76% of Saudi shoppers hold purchases for Ramadan deals.
• White Friday. Usually about 19–30 November. Load Shopping budgets early and launch offers before the marketplaces' peak days.

During Ramadan, shopping moves late. Visa found that the share of Saudi card payments made late at night, after 10pm, doubled in Ramadan to 35%.

Shift your ad schedule toward the hours after taraweeh, and plan offers with our Ramadan marketing guide.

Notes for foreign brands

• Show SAR prices with VAT on your product pages, not a converted total at checkout.
• Set delivery times you can hit for cross-border parcels, and say so in your ads.
• Saudi searchers lean Arabic, so an English-only store reaches only part of the market. Our Arabic SEO service builds the Arabic pages your ads need.

Notes for marketplace sellers

• You can't run Google Ads to an Amazon.sa or noon listing with your own tracking. Use the marketplace's own ads there.
• Run Google Ads for your own store, and bid on your brand name so shoppers land with you, not a reseller.
• Compare every channel in our paid ads hub.