A SEO or an SEO … ? 60-second fix

SEO (search engine optimisation) is often high on the business agenda. Being found online by prospects is vital for most organisations – so at some point most will go looking for a company or tool to help them appear near the top of the search-engine rankings.

But when they do, as our blog reader Mark enquires, are they looking for ‘a SEO company or tool’ or ‘an SEO company or tool’?

Good question, Mark – and one that often comes up with abbreviations.

Fortunately, it’s an easy one to sort out: you just look at the pronunciation of the abbreviation. Although it begins with a consonant, phonetically SEO (ess-ee-oh) starts with a vowel, so you would precede it with ‘an’.

So that means that abbreviations beginning with A, E, F, H (pronounced ‘aitch’), I, L, M, N, O, R, S and X should be preceded by ‘an’. Those beginning with B, C, D, G, J, K, P, Q, T, U, V, W, Y, or Z will take ‘a’.

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Author: Catie Holdridge

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Catie joined Emphasis with an English literature and creative writing degree and a keen interest in what makes language work. Having researched, written, commissioned and edited dozens of articles for the Emphasis blog, she now knows more about the intricacies of effective professional writing than she ever thought possible.

She produced and co-wrote our online training programme, The Complete Business Writer, and these days oversees all the Emphasis marketing efforts. And she keeps office repartee at a suitably literary level.