I did a short experiment in my seo contest entry - I changed the site from having full meta tags to having none except title. It made no difference - I remained in 3rd position for the key phrase.Then I added the description and keyword tags - no change. Finally I changed the title tag and still I haven't budged from 3rd place - positions 4+ are moving around quite a bit but 1-3 seem stuck.
I know it wasn't a long term test and is probably inconclusive because of the time element but considering that everyone in that contest is working on SEO I would have though it would make some difference rather quickly but nothing I can see in the serps.
-- This message may have been cut off and the rest will only be shown to members. To become a member, click here --