Keywords in URL

[AndrewC]

I noticed that google really seems to notice when keywords are in the url..but I hear some SEO experts saying this is not important..

what are your opinions about it?

[Peter]

Keyword(s) in the URL is one of the many factors that determine a site's ranking in few SEs so it's better to have them than nothing at all. But make sure the URL doesn't look spammy.

[paul]

Also check different attributes of keywords which can be categoriezed as below;
Overall Competition
Overall market and popularity
Relevancy with respect to the business

[Alexis]

I agree with the above mentioned points by Paul, for a site to rank high for keywords in the URL, keyword relevancy, competition and popularity are important factors to be considered.