The HTML <strong> tag
The HTML <strong> element marks text with strong importance, seriousness or urgency — warnings, key points, deadlines. It renders bold by default, but it is about meaning: for bold styling with no added importance, use <b>.
Overview
The <strong> element marks its text as important, serious or urgent — the things a reader must not miss, like a warning, a deadline, or a key term in a definition. Browsers render it bold, and assistive technology may treat it as significant.
As with the rest of this family, the choice is about meaning, not weight. For text that is bold only for style — keywords in an abstract, a product name, the lead-in words of a paragraph — use <b>, which adds no importance. And for emphasis that changes how a sentence is read aloud, use <em> rather than <strong>.
If all you want is bold styling with no semantic weight, the CSS font-weight property is the right tool. Nesting <strong> inside another increases the level of importance, which is occasionally useful for marking the most critical part of an already-important passage.
Syntax
<p><strong>Warning:</strong> this cannot be undone.</p>Example
<p><strong>Warning:</strong> deleting your account is permanent.</p>Best practices
- Use
<strong>for genuine importance — warnings, key terms, critical instructions — not just to make text bold. - For bold styling with no added importance (keywords, product names), use <b>.
- For emphasis that changes how a sentence reads, use <em>.
- For purely visual bold text, set font-weight in CSS.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between strong and b?
<strong> conveys that the text is important; <b> only draws attention stylistically without added importance.What is the difference between strong and em?
<strong> is importance; <em> is stress emphasis. Use strong for "this matters", em for "stress this word".How do I just make text bold in HTML?
<strong> or <b>. For purely visual bold, use the CSS font-weight property.