While keyword density is over, keyword usage is not. Content is everything now, and understanding how keywords can better cater a website to the users looking for it is crucial. We have a few suggestions to focus on for this very task. 

1. The experience of the user. Always consider what viewing your website is actually like for a user. What this means is that if you are still focusing on keyword density, your pages will read like spam. If you put the experience of the user first on your priority list, your keywords will still appear, but it won’t be so obvious, the text will be less chunky and read more smoothly. 
2. Better context. The algorithms set up by Google for semantic search are complex and assess the context of any keyword in order to see what meaning the keyword holds within this context. You have to think more about how and where your keywords are placed to provide more information than what the keyword means alone. 
3. Synonyms, synonyms, synonyms. Absolutely do not just repeat the same keywords over and over. Using similar words and synonyms will help you, not harm you now. You want the content of your site to be rich and beneficial to users, not repetitive and useless. 
4. Quality is king. The most important thing to remember about semantic search is that it is assessing for quality. Thinking about what a user might ask or what perspectives a user might have will help you write optimal content. You want to write text for your website that will last and continue to be helpful. 
5. Reframe the purpose of keywords. Keywords are no longer the main goal of SEO. Rather, they are one of many tools that will help you build content and focus on user needs. Keywords still have their place, but they are not and should not be the central theme of SEO work. Content and context are now the main players.