Key Word meta tags - who uses 'em?

are kw meta tags still being used by the search engines?

[valeria_vi]

I've read in several different places, that most search engines do not use then any more.
Description seems to still be looked at for results page text but where's KW gone to?
It seems like AltaVista and Intomi 'look' at them, but nobody really knows if they are being actually used by these search engines. Not sure if others even take kw them into account.
What's the deal?

[Brett_Tabke]

Welcome to the forums. You are on the right track. Many feel that the time taken to dl kw tags outweight their value to most se's.

The one place that I still use them is on pages that are mostly graphic in nature. The se really doesn't have much to go on.

[widgetarizona]

Valeria--- This question was broached at the SES in Boston earlier this month in the "Meet the Crawlers" session. Inktomi stated that they do use all the meta-tags, meta-keywords included. I'm not sure how much value I would put into them but I do include them using relevant keywords that are displayed on the page.

[engine]

Don't stop using meta kw tags.

1. It still counts (as Brett says) on graphics-intesive pages.
2. They are still useful for the site manager.
3. They are still good discipline to focus the mind on page and site theme content.

[click watcher]

i get many referals from inktomi from words/phases only found in the meta keywords tag

[brotherhood of LAN]

I notice many smaller niche directories on the submission form also ask you to enter keywords for your site

I imagine there are a similar amount of sites that spider your site and use the keyword tags all for the same end purpose

All in all, you could chuck your keyword tags and wait to see any difference, or be safe and keep them. I see no harm in keeping them, they are either doing nothing or something positive.

Worrying about bandwidth for a 100 character keyword tag is not something worth mentioning :)

[EliteWeb]

I recieve so many hits from engines who use metatags still maybe not the big players anymore but still something to have in there.

[valeria_vi]

Thanks everybody for your insightful posts.