Does Keyword Research and Application Still Hold Merit in SEO?

Keywords are not the only rankings factors that search engines look at when determining a site's position; in fact, there are more than 200 signals, making keywords a relatively small piece of the puzzle. If you have a website, you're probably quite familiar with conducting keyword research. This is a standard practice and has been used for as long as search engines have existed. These key phrases are the framework for the entirety of your presence in the SERPs.  Considering that, along with the vast changes Google is constantly making to its algorithms, does keyword research and application still hold merit in SEO? Get insights...