tedster - 1:39 pm on May 10, 2006 (gmt 0)

I always thought google didnt bother with the description and keyword tags.

Unique meta descriptions do seem to be, at times, very important to Google. Just this year I have seen two "supplemental problems" fixed, immediately after making the meta descriptions unique and relevant to each page.

That said, in recent months Google also seems to be experimenting a lot with what they present in the SERPs, whether meta descriptions, DMOZ descriptions, snippets from the page. But given recent experience, I would strongly advise unique meta descriptions for each page.

A unique meta keywords tag doesn't seem to matter for G, but it's still a good practice, IMO. There is some evidence that other engines may, at times, test it out as a useful factor. So why not use it as a place to "keep notes" -- a short list of which keywords your page is relevant for?