OK, I assumed everyone knew that you should put a title element, body element etc. on each webpage. Are you saying there is information in these documents that is not being followed by webmasters with even the most basic knowledge about on-page optimisation? There is a lot of information here that just isn't necessary for SEO purposes - meta data, for example, plays no part in Google's algorithms. I will clarify what I said above by saying that the code doesn't need to validate in order to improve your rankings.
Yep, there is an awful lot of BS floating around (read the current thread on keyword density for example) while the self proclaimed experts ignore important basics. Which is better as far as SEO is concerned? Table based nav menus or list based? Which is more semantically correct (i.e. follows W3C recommendations)? <title>SEO Basics - Is a long, keyword stuffed title really helpful to SEO?</title> <h1>Heading Tags</h1> <h2>Proper Use</h2> Does proper use of <hx> tags impact rankings? It amazes me that so called experts would try to argue that proper document structure has zero impact on one's rankings.
Well, people keyword stuff the hell out of the title and sometimes get #1 spots. Just Google a popular term like forex and see how many commercial sites do it. I'm not saying it's the best thing to do, but sometimes people break the rules and seem to do OK. I don't think I completely disagree with you anyway - all I really have to say on the subject is that only adhering to some of those recommendations, rather than all of them, is necessary. And like I said, validation doesn't mean anything as far as SERPs go.
Try doing some research. Google wrote years ago that an element on a site may have a spammy approach however it will still rank well. Google will discount the spammy title for example and if the site has enough quality links from authority sites it can still rank at the top. For all the posturing done by some here let me put it to you this way. Under the OPs way you can do the SEO work half way and get away with it...... But........ You can also do the job correctly and know its done the right way, your page will load quicker, there are less code issues to trip up spiders, you can prevent infinite loops (lets see how many google that term) and have a foot up on the competition. Ohhh and I have 1,000s of keywords at the very top of Google Msn & Yahoo too......not sure that qualifies anyone at being an SEO......