Do you guys customize the metatags on each page of your article based websites? If so, do you include article based keywords, as well as keywords that pertain to your general sites theme? How useful do you think metatags are these days in Google Y and Msn?
1. yes, 2. yes, 3. no-one really knows how much they add for this but so long as its relevent, not spam it could put you above a site who hasnt bothered. dont use short cuts - meta description is what can be picked up as you Serp descriptor. You can get penalised for duplicate keywords or too many in there.