diff --git a/aio/src/styles/2-modules/_code.scss b/aio/src/styles/2-modules/_code.scss
index b5e21c1155..0f2a5ef758 100644
--- a/aio/src/styles/2-modules/_code.scss
+++ b/aio/src/styles/2-modules/_code.scss
@@ -102,6 +102,10 @@ aio-code {
     align-items: center;
 
     code {
+      a {
+        color: inherit;
+      }
+
       span {
         @include line-height(24);
       }
@@ -159,12 +163,19 @@ aio-code {
 .sidenav-content {
   code {
     a {
-      color: inherit;
+      color: $darkblue;
       font-size: inherit;
       font-weight: inherit;
     }
   }
 
+  :not(h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, pre) > code {
+    background-color: rgba($lightgray, 0.5);
+    border-radius: 4px;
+    color: $deepgray;
+    padding: 4px;
+  }
+
   .code-anchor {
     cursor: pointer;
     text-decoration: none;