can someone please tell me how meta tags work, and if a search function will read them.

This article should help you with their use: How To Use HTML Meta Tags (http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167931)

And this article should help address your second question: Death Of A Meta Tag (http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2165061)

argh restrictions on web access wont let me view the page, and chance someone could give me a crash course in how to use them?