The truth is, if you wanted to skimp somewhere and not include something on your pages this would be the element you leave out. However, I think there is still benfit to using the META keywords tag.
Times Change
At one time the search engines relied heavily on what you put in your META keywords tag. At that time the search engines did not have the sophistication they do now in parsing a page and determining for themselves what it is about. Many Webmasters abused the keywords tag and stuffed it with irrelevant keywords that they thought would get them traffic. As a result, they META keywords entries are mostly ignored by the search engines, especially Google.
I Use Them Anyway
I still like to use META keywords. There is some evidence that Yahoo does still pay attention to them and used properly they can’t hurt your rankings. You should be sure, however, to not keyword stuff your keywords tag. Don’t put words that are not actually on the page and don’t repeat keywords dozens of times. In fact, I almost never list a keyword more than once in the tag just to be safe.
It Helps you Focus
One reason I still use the META keywords tag is to make sure I’m focused on which keywords I’m targeting. It helps to be thinking about the exact keywords you want to be ranked for while you are writing the page. If you figure that out ahead of time and document the keywords in your META keywords tag you can be more organized and deliberate about your keyword targeting.
There are lots more search marketing tips for you to explore.
