Certain meta tags are still important to SEO.
Developing good quality backlinks, having a positive Social Media presence are important to the overall site SEO it is still important to do some on page SEO for the success of your site.
Some of the most important aspects of on page SEO, are title tags, header tags, meta tags, and if you are posting on a blog, blog post tags, these can and will increase your SEO rating on most of the search engines.
A good meta description tag, that has relevance to the content of the page is also very important. Keep the tag to 160 characters or less and summarize the contents of the page, using relevant keywords as much as possible to emphasize the page content. Most search engines also use this tag to display in the search results to make it easier for the person searching to get a high level overview of the page contents. A good description here can result in a higher than average CTR (click through rate) if it is worded well.
The meta keyword tag, once considered a must in good web design, is now considered outside the norm of a Best Practice and should not be used. The search engines have caught on how these tags were being manipulated to increase SEO and now can penalize your site if it appears that you are trying to manipulate the SERP. Many of us still use them, but we use them sparingly, and make certain that the keywords included pertain to the page content and reflect the keywords used in the meta description. Even this can result in penalties if overused.
SEO is a constantly changing beast. Both on page and off page SEO is important. It is best to keep your site optimized in both the off page an on page SEO and keep up with the changes that are occurring in the search engines. Sometimes that can seem to be a full time job as quickly as the algorithms are changing.
