Sell to Iraq: Website Translation & Languages Guide
Languages, market data and the right technical SEO strategy for selling into Iraq with a WordPress site.
Which languages does the Iraq market expect?
Iraq's web audience is primarily served in Arabic, Kurdish. Serving these languages on real, indexable URLs is the baseline for ranking in local search results.
What URL & hreflang strategy fits Iraq?
For most sites: keep one domain, serve each language in a subdirectory, and add region-qualified hreflang where offers are country-specific. Example for Iraq: hreflang="ar-iq" on localized pricing pages, plain hreflang="ar" elsewhere.
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ar-iq" href="https://example.com/ar/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />
Practical checklist for entering Iraq
- Translate the market-entry set first: homepage, top products, pricing, contact and legal pages in Arabic.
- Show prices in IQD where possible — language plus local currency is what makes a site feel domestic.
- Run per-market keyword checks: never assume your English keywords translate into how locals actually search.
- Watch Search Console impressions from this country before and after launch — that delta is your localization ROI.
City guides in Iraq
Frequently asked questions
What languages should my website support for Iraq?
Start with Arabic and Kurdish. With roughly 79% of Iraq's ~45M people online, the addressable web audience is about 35.6 million.
Do I need a local domain (.iq ccTLD) for Iraq?
Usually not. Google recommends language subdirectories (yoursite.com/ar/) with hreflang region targeting for most businesses — they inherit your domain authority and cost nothing extra. A ccTLD makes sense only with a dedicated local team and budget.
How do I target Iraq specifically rather than the whole language?
Use region-qualified hreflang (e.g. ar-iq) on pages with country-specific prices or offers, while keeping a generic language version as the default for other speakers of the language.
What does it cost to localize for the Iraq market?
Machine translation at wholesale API rates costs single-digit dollars per language for a typical site. The real localization budget goes to currency display, local payment methods and (for regulated industries) legal review.
Keep exploring
Ready to launch in Iraq?
Add the market's languages to your WordPress site in minutes — with your own API key and zero word quotas.