Doex xhtml vadlidation help SEO/Serps?

Sorry if this has been asked and answered, but I was wondering whether anyone knows whether ensuring that a page validates with the xhtml validator is known to actually improve seo/serps or is simply... nice? I imagine there wouldn't be as much concern about it if it didn't help, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask...

Thanks!

There's no proof that it does... but there's also no proof that it doesn't.

but, i bet a bot can much easier read
<p>a nice paragraph</p>
over
<p><table><b>a<i><u><center></table>a</i>parar</b>graph</table></u></p>

Thanks, brian.

The validator can turn up issues that can definitely impact your page.

There are some types of errors the validator may report that could have less impact on SEO overall.

In general, if your site validates, you know that it is 100% error free, and you have the security of knowing that any possible issues with the search engines have been eliminated.