diff --git a/publisher/htmlElementsCollector.go b/publisher/htmlElementsCollector.go
index daaefe6cf..e2f8fd2ca 100644
--- a/publisher/htmlElementsCollector.go
+++ b/publisher/htmlElementsCollector.go
@@ -67,7 +67,9 @@ type cssClassCollectorWriter struct {
 
 	isCollecting bool
 	dropValue    bool
-	inQuote      bool
+
+	inQuote    bool
+	quoteValue byte
 }
 
 func (w *cssClassCollectorWriter) Write(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
@@ -165,7 +167,12 @@ func (c *cssClassCollectorWriter) startCollecting() {
 
 func (c *cssClassCollectorWriter) toggleIfQuote(b byte) {
 	if isQuote(b) {
-		c.inQuote = !c.inQuote
+		if c.inQuote && b == c.quoteValue {
+			c.inQuote = false
+		} else if !c.inQuote {
+			c.inQuote = true
+			c.quoteValue = b
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/publisher/htmlElementsCollector_test.go b/publisher/htmlElementsCollector_test.go
index 24bf87c2d..6b5ef9863 100644
--- a/publisher/htmlElementsCollector_test.go
+++ b/publisher/htmlElementsCollector_test.go
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ func TestClassCollector(t *testing.T) {
 
 		{"Alpine transition 1", `<div x-transition:enter-start="opacity-0 transform mobile:-translate-x-8 sm:-translate-y-8">`, f("div", "mobile:-translate-x-8 opacity-0 sm:-translate-y-8 transform", "")},
 		{"Vue bind", `<div v-bind:class="{ active: isActive }"></div>`, f("div", "active", "")},
+		// https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/issues/7746
+		{"Apostrophe inside attribute value", `<a class="missingclass" title="Plus d'information">my text</a><div></div>`, f("a div", "missingclass", "")},
 	} {
 		c.Run(test.name, func(c *qt.C) {
 			w := newHTMLElementsCollectorWriter(newHTMLElementsCollector())