Google's John Mueller advises using semantic HTML. Though not a ranking factor, it helps search engines understand content and boosts accessibility.

Semantic HTML makes it clear to search engines exactly where the content you want to be indexed is on a webpage, which is why it should be considered for both SEO and website accessibility.

A lot of information that is important for interacting with user interfaces (e.g. heading structure) is conveyed via visual cues. Semantic markup makes these accessible to users of assistive ...

HTML, in particular, has a troubled past. The headaches began in the bad old days of the browser wars, when competing browser makers would implement the specifications in dubious ways and add ...