diff --git a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html/tree.rs b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html/tree.rs
index 9c94a5b1..5a0786ea 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html/tree.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html/tree.rs
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ pub(crate) struct Element {
     pub(crate) attrs: Attributes,
     /// True if this tag ends with `/>`.
     pub(crate) self_closing: bool,
+    /// True if this was raw HTML written in the markdown.
+    pub(crate) was_raw: bool,
 }
 
 impl Element {
@@ -87,6 +89,7 @@ impl Element {
             name,
             attrs: Attributes::new(),
             self_closing: false,
+            was_raw: false,
         }
     }
 
@@ -618,6 +621,7 @@ where
                                 name,
                                 attrs,
                                 self_closing: tag.self_closing,
+                                was_raw: true,
                             };
                             fix_html_link(&mut el);
                             self.push(Node::Element(el));
@@ -842,6 +846,11 @@ where
         for heading in headings {
             let node = self.tree.get(heading).unwrap();
             let el = node.value().as_element().unwrap();
+            // Don't modify tags if they were manually written HTML. The
+            // user probably had some intent, and we don't want to mess it up.
+            if el.was_raw {
+                continue;
+            }
             let href = if let Some(id) = el.attr("id") {
                 format!("#{id}")
             } else {
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/markdown/basic_markdown/expected/html.html b/tests/testsuite/markdown/basic_markdown/expected/html.html
index f08b5ec8..609fb3c7 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/markdown/basic_markdown/expected/html.html
+++ b/tests/testsuite/markdown/basic_markdown/expected/html.html
@@ -64,6 +64,6 @@ const x = 'some *text* inside';
 .bar { background-color: green }
 </style>
 <h2 id="manual-headers"><a class="header" href="#manual-headers">Manual headers</a></h2>
-<h2 id="my header"><a class="header" href="#my header"><a href="#foo">My Header</a></a></h2>
+<h2 id="my header"><a href="#foo">My Header</a></h2>
 
-<h3 id="another-header"><a class="header" href="#another-header">Another header</a></h3>
\ No newline at end of file
+<h3>Another header</h3>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/markdown/definition_lists/expected/html_definition_lists.html b/tests/testsuite/markdown/definition_lists/expected/html_definition_lists.html
index 7a75abf1..50263db9 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/markdown/definition_lists/expected/html_definition_lists.html
+++ b/tests/testsuite/markdown/definition_lists/expected/html_definition_lists.html
@@ -2,13 +2,13 @@
 <p>Test for definition lists manually written in HTML.</p>
 <dl>
     
-<dt id="some-tag"><a class="header" href="#some-tag">Some tag</a></dt>
+<dt>Some tag</dt>
 
     
 <dd>Some defintion</dd>
 
     
-<dt class="myclass" id="myid"><a class="header" href="#myid"><a class="option-anchor" href="#foo">Another definition</a></a></dt>
+<dt class="myclass" id="myid"><a class="option-anchor" href="#foo">Another definition</a></dt>
 
     
 <dd class="def-class">A definition.</dd>
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/markdown/definition_lists/expected_disabled/html_definition_lists.html b/tests/testsuite/markdown/definition_lists/expected_disabled/html_definition_lists.html
index 7a75abf1..50263db9 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/markdown/definition_lists/expected_disabled/html_definition_lists.html
+++ b/tests/testsuite/markdown/definition_lists/expected_disabled/html_definition_lists.html
@@ -2,13 +2,13 @@
 <p>Test for definition lists manually written in HTML.</p>
 <dl>
     
-<dt id="some-tag"><a class="header" href="#some-tag">Some tag</a></dt>
+<dt>Some tag</dt>
 
     
 <dd>Some defintion</dd>
 
     
-<dt class="myclass" id="myid"><a class="header" href="#myid"><a class="option-anchor" href="#foo">Another definition</a></a></dt>
+<dt class="myclass" id="myid"><a class="option-anchor" href="#foo">Another definition</a></dt>
 
     
 <dd class="def-class">A definition.</dd>