Acronyms
Key Point
💡 Acronyms and abbreviations can have an adverse effect on clarity, voice, and SEO.
Although some acronyms are widely understood and preferred to the spelled-out term, others aren’t well known or are familiar to all readers.
Use familiar acronyms
Use acronyms that your audience is familiar with.
The A–Z word list has guidelines for common acronyms, and some acronyms are so widely used that they’re in The American Heritage Dictionary.
Spell out the term for clarity
Include the acronym in parentheses following the spelled-out term.
On subsequent mentions in the same topic, page, or screen, you can use the acronym without spelling it out.
Some acronyms, like USB, FAQ, and URL, are more well known than the spelled-out term.
Don’t spell out the term if the acronym is listed in The American Heritage Dictionary or if the A–Z word list says to use the acronym without spelling it out.
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Don’t introduce acronyms that are used once
If an acronym will appear only once in your content, spell out the term.
Don’t introduce it in parentheses after the spelled-out version.
Exception It’s OK to use both the spelled-out term and the acronym if both are needed for SEO, even if the acronym is used only once.
Titles and headings
Avoid using an acronym for the first time in a title or heading, unless it’s a keyword that you need to place in the title or heading for SEO.
If the first use of the acronym is in a title or heading, introduce the acronym (in parentheses, following the spelled-out term) in the following body text.
Lowercase
Lowercase all words in the spelled-out form of an acronym except for proper nouns.
The names of protocols and specifications are considered proper nouns and are capitalized when spelled out.
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Add s to make an acronym plural
Form the plural of an acronym like you would any other noun. If the acronym stands for a singular noun, add a lowercase s to make it plural.
If an acronym stands for a plural noun, don’t add an s.
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TIP
In machine-translated content, be careful with acronyms that form common English words, like RAM.
If the acronym appears outside of the parentheses and without the spelled-out version, it might be translated incorrectly.