If you’ve been even half awake and following the news in SEO circles for the last decade or so, you probably know this already but Google just saw fit to make it official – Google does NOT use the keywords meta tag for search rankings.
(Note that they don’t explicitly say they don’t use it as a spam indicator …)
Do other search engines use it? Hmm – maybe, but Google’s still the biggest player in town. Most people I know (myself included) simply don’t bother with it any more and have not noticed any damaging effects of that choice.
Probably the most profitable use for the keywords tag these days it to help your competitors figure out what you’re attempting to target!
So if anyone’s trying to sell you SEO services and they start talking about meta keywords tags, run. Run fast, run far and most of all don’t whip out your checkbook because it’s almost certain that they’re just another seo wannabe who hasn’t got a clue.