The main purpose of mark tags in HTML is to highlight relevant or important text in a document. 1. The most common purpose is to highlight matching keywords in the search result page to help users quickly locate content; 2. It can also be used to emphasize key information in the context, such as definitions, warnings or recurring topics; 3. You can customize the style through CSS and display it in a yellow background by default; 4. When using it, you should pay attention to avoid relying on colors to convey meaning, not overuse, and not affecting screen readers and other auxiliary tools; 5. It is not used for purely decorative purposes. In other cases, more suitable tags such as del, ins, strong or span should be selected.
The mark
tag in HTML is used to highlight or mark text that's relevant or important within a document. It's especially useful when you want to draw attention to certain parts of the content, like search results, key terms, or annotations.

Highlighting Search Results
One of the most common uses of the mark
tag is in search result pages. When someone searches for a term on a website, the matching keyword in the result snippet is often wrapped in <mark></mark>
to make it stand out visually.
For example:

<p>Here is the result for your query: This is a <mark>sample</mark> page.</p>
This helps users quickly locate their search term without having to scan through all the text manually.
Some typical scenarios:

- A blog post highlights keywords from a site search
- Documentation sites use it to emphasize terms in a glossary
- E-commerce product listings may mark matched attributes like color or size
Browsers usually style it with a yellow background by default, but you can customize the appearance using CSS.
Emphasizing Key Information
Another good use is to bring attention to specific parts of a document — not necessarily because of a search, but because they're contextually important.
Think of a long article where a particular phrase needs to be called out, like a definition, a warning, or a recurring theme. The mark
tag can help make those moments pop without changing the meaning of the sentence.
A few examples:
- Marking a new term introduced in a tutorial
- Showing changes in a versioned document
- Calling out names or places in a narrative
It's different from other emphasis tags like <strong>
or <em>
, which imply importance or stress. The mark
tag is more about visual noticeability than semantic weight.
Styling and Accessibility Considerations
While the default look of the mark
tag is a yellow highlight, you're not stuck with that. You can easily change its appearance with CSS to match your design system.
For instance:
mark { background-color: #ffdd57; padding: 2px 4px; border-radius: 3px; }
But keep accessibility in mind:
- Don't rely solely on color to convey meaning
- Avoid overusing it — too many highlights reduce effectiveness
- Make sure it doesn't clash with screen readers or other assistive tools
Also, avoid using mark
for purely decorative purposes. Its intended use is functional — to mark something worth noticing.
When Not to Use the Mark Tag
Just because it looks nice doesn't mean it should be used everywhere. There are cases where other tags are better suited:
- If you want to indicate deleted or inserted text, go with
<del></del>
or<ins></ins>
- For bold or emphasized text, stick with
<strong>
or<em>
- If you just need a styled span, use
<span></span>
with a class instead
The mark
tag should serve a clear purpose, such as highlighting relevance or drawing attention intentionally — not just for decoration.
Basically that's it.
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