Why isn't my website the first result when searched with the meta data I use?

[Jake]

Major search engines like Google ignore the Meta Keyword settings on a web site, which were being used too often to deceive the search engines, they rely more on the actual content they find on a page. There are over 100 factors considered in search ranking, just stuffing a site with the right keywords will not get a new site onto page 1 of the results.

Here's a Search Engine Optimization primer by an SEO authority, too much of the stuff taught by others is out of date or simply inaccurate.
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo