A related argument against table-based layouts, which I don't see any discussion about yet, is that "it's important to maintain a high ratio of content to marku

A related argument against table-based layouts, which I don't see any discussion about yet, is that "it's important to maintain a high ratio of content to markup for SEO purposes." In my view, a complicated div-based layout is just about as markup-heavy as a table layout, given separate CSS files in both cases. So I would think the point is moot. And my suspicion is it's just SEO firms blowing smoke in an effort to figure out things to sell. So, is this at all a substantiative claim?