diff --git a/linters/remark-lint-no-html-comments.js b/linters/remark-lint-no-html-comments.js
index 928720d..f9e6668 100644
--- a/linters/remark-lint-no-html-comments.js
+++ b/linters/remark-lint-no-html-comments.js
@@ -1,41 +1,53 @@
-import { visit } from 'unist-util-visit'
-
 const remarkLintNoHtmlComments = (severity = 'warning') => {
   return (tree, file) => {
-    // Handle both array format [severity] and direct severity string
     const actualSeverity = Array.isArray(severity) ? severity[0] : severity
 
-    // Visit all HTML nodes to find HTML comments
-    visit(tree, 'html', (node) => {
-      const content = node.value
+    const content = file.toString()
+    const lines = content.split('\n')
+    let inCodeBlock = false
+    let inFrontmatter = false
 
-      // Check for HTML comments
-      const htmlCommentRegex = /<!--[\s\S]*?-->/g
-      let commentMatch
+    for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) {
+      const lineNumber = i + 1
+      const line = lines[i]
+      const trimmed = line.trim()
 
-      while ((commentMatch = htmlCommentRegex.exec(content)) !== null) {
-        const [fullComment] = commentMatch
+      // Skip YAML frontmatter
+      if (i === 0 && trimmed === '---') {
+        inFrontmatter = true
+        continue
+      }
+      if (inFrontmatter) {
+        if (trimmed === '---') inFrontmatter = false
+        continue
+      }
 
-        const position = {
-          start: {
-            line: node.position.start.line,
-            column: node.position.start.column + commentMatch.index + 1
-          },
-          end: {
-            line: node.position.start.line,
-            column: node.position.start.column + commentMatch.index + fullComment.length
-          }
-        }
+      // Skip fenced code blocks
+      if (trimmed.startsWith('```') || trimmed.startsWith('~~~')) {
+        inCodeBlock = !inCodeBlock
+        continue
+      }
+      if (inCodeBlock) continue
 
-        const message = 'HTML comments are not allowed. Use markdown comments instead or remove the comment.'
+      // Strip inline code spans to avoid false positives inside backticks
+      const stripped = line.replace(/`[^`]*`/g, (m) => ' '.repeat(m.length))
 
+      const htmlCommentRegex = /<!--.*?-->/g
+      let match
+      while ((match = htmlCommentRegex.exec(stripped)) !== null) {
+        const position = {
+          start: { line: lineNumber, column: match.index + 1 },
+          end: { line: lineNumber, column: match.index + match[0].length + 1 }
+        }
+        const message =
+          'HTML comments are not allowed. Use markdown comments instead or remove the comment.'
         if (actualSeverity === 'error') {
           file.fail(message, position, 'remark-lint:no-html-comments')
         } else {
           file.message(message, position, 'remark-lint:no-html-comments')
         }
       }
-    })
+    }
   }
 }