diff --git a/changelog.d/20260731_090641_kurtmckee_improve_finish_endtag.rst b/changelog.d/20260731_090641_kurtmckee_improve_finish_endtag.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..412ef36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/20260731_090641_kurtmckee_improve_finish_endtag.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+Changed
+-------
+
+*   Improve the closing tag search behavior of ``SGMLParser.finish_endtag()``.
+
+    Previously, the method always searched the entire tag stack
+    to close the innermost tag, which had a higher search cost.
+    The tag stack is now searched in reverse order
+    and breaks on the first matching tag.
diff --git a/src/feedparser_sgmllib/__init__.py b/src/feedparser_sgmllib/__init__.py
index dffdb10..27e832d 100644
--- a/src/feedparser_sgmllib/__init__.py
+++ b/src/feedparser_sgmllib/__init__.py
@@ -369,23 +369,21 @@ def finish_endtag(self, tag: str) -> None:
         else:
             if tag not in self.stack:
                 try:
-                    method = getattr(self, "end_" + tag)
+                    getattr(self, "end_" + tag)
                 except AttributeError:
                     self.unknown_endtag(tag)
                 else:
                     self.report_unbalanced(tag)
                 return
             found = len(self.stack)
-            for i in range(found):
-                if self.stack[i] == tag:
-                    found = i
+            for i, stack_tag in enumerate(reversed(self.stack)):
+                if stack_tag == tag:
+                    found = len(self.stack) - 1 - i
+                    break
         while len(self.stack) > found:
             tag = self.stack[-1]
-            try:
-                method = getattr(self, "end_" + tag)
-            except AttributeError:
-                method = None
-            if method:
+            method: t.Callable[[], t.Any] | None = getattr(self, "end_" + tag, None)
+            if method is not None:
                 self.handle_endtag(tag, method)
             else:
                 self.unknown_endtag(tag)
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index d4dd00d..e9aa9db 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -128,3 +128,29 @@ def handle_charref(self, name):
     def handle_entityref(self, name):
         self.events.append(("entityref", name))
         sgmllib.SGMLParser.handle_entityref(self, name)
+
+
+class NestedTagCollector(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
+        self.events = []
+
+    def start_a(self, attrs):
+        self.events.append(("start_a", attrs))
+
+    def end_a(self):
+        self.events.append(("end_a",))
+
+    def start_b(self, attrs):
+        self.events.append(("start_b", attrs))
+
+    def end_b(self):
+        self.events.append(("end_b",))
+
+    def unknown_endtag(self, tag):
+        self.events.append(("unknown_endtag", tag))
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def nested_tag_collector() -> NestedTagCollector:
+    return NestedTagCollector()
diff --git a/tests/test_sgmllib.py b/tests/test_sgmllib.py
index 0387e8a..c9be3d6 100644
--- a/tests/test_sgmllib.py
+++ b/tests/test_sgmllib.py
@@ -455,6 +455,35 @@ def test_attrfind_trailing_dollar_sign():
     assert sgmllib.attrfind.search(text).groups() == ("i", '="true"', '"true"')
 
 
+def test_endtag_closes_innermost_matching_tag(nested_tag_collector):
+    """
+    Regression test: Confirm closing tags close innermost tags.
+
+    For example:
+
+        <a id="1"> <b> <a id="2"></a>
+
+    The </a> must close id=2 only, leaving <b> open.
+    """
+
+    nested_tag_collector.feed('<a id="1"><b></c><a id="2"></a>')
+
+    assert nested_tag_collector.events == [
+        ("start_a", [("id", "1")]),
+        ("start_b", []),
+        ("unknown_endtag", "c"),
+        ("start_a", [("id", "2")]),
+        ("end_a",),
+    ]
+    assert nested_tag_collector.stack == ["a", "b"]
+
+    # The innermost <a> (id=2) should be closed, and <b> should still be open.
+    # Therefore, `end_b` should be called, not `unknown_endtag`.
+    nested_tag_collector.feed("</b>")
+    assert nested_tag_collector.events[-1] == ("end_b",)
+    assert nested_tag_collector.stack == ["a"]
+
+
 # XXX These tests have been disabled by prefixing their names with
 # an underscore.  The first two exercise outstanding bugs in the
 # sgmllib module, and the third exhibits questionable behavior