Does Google use the "Keywords" meta tag?

I have been telling this to my clients for really long time but still there are many who insists that "Keywords" SHOULD be the top priority, so have decided to put an article.

Google doesn't use the "keywords" meta tag in their web search ranking. Google web search (the well-known search at Google.com that hundreds of millions of people use each day) disregards keyword metatags completely. They simply don't have any effect in search ranking.

Matt Cutts, have now officially confirmed that "Keyword" meta tag does not hold any value, and have explained this on google web master central blog.

He said too many people has spammed with this meta tag so much, that we dont use it anymore. But that doesnt mean we dont use any of the meta tag. We use "Description" meta tag, if you have a good "Description" meta tag, you will be placed higher or maybe on first page of google as this screenshot shows



For more information, which meta tags google uses, click here

Listen to what Matt Cutts says:



In the end, I will say, CONTENT is the Key for best ranking.