HTML <Strong> Tag

Definition

The <strong> tag adds semantic meaning and indicates strong importance, seriousness, or urgency for its contents.

Example

<p>You should <strong>not drive on the wrong side of the road</strong>.</p>

Usage

• Both the opening and closing tags are required.
• The <strong> element can be used to denote:
  • Importance - It can be used in a heading, caption, or paragraph to distinguish the important parts of the text from the rest.
  • Seriousness - It can be used to highlight a warning or other notice.
  • Urgency - It can be used to indicate parts of the text that need to be seen sooner.
• You can increase the level of importance of a piece of text by nesting <strong> elements within each other. Each nesting will increase the level of importance.
• The <strong> element is, by default, marked up as a bold font weight. You should not use the element purely as a stylistic tool. If you wish to make text bold without applying special meaning, you can use the <b> tags or CSS.

<strong> vs <b>

• <strong> has semantic meaning and indicates the enclosed text has more importance, seriousness, or urgency than the surrounding text.
• <b>, on the other hand, has no semantic meaning and is used as a styling tool to bring attention to the enclosed text.

<strong> vs <em>

• <strong> has semantic meaning and indicates the enclosed text has more importance, seriousness, or urgency than the surrounding text.
• <em> also has semantic meaning but add emphasis to the enclosed text, not importance.

Attributes

The <strong> element only supports the Global Attributes.

Best Practices

• You can read how Google uses <strong> elements for ranking purposes here.

Specification

• HTML Living Standard Specification
• HTML5 Specification

Browser Support

Desktop

Mobile