In 2013 Google launched its Hummingbird update to the search engine’s algorithm. With the launch, Google began a transition to a focus on topics and entities from keywords. Moving towards topics and entities led to less emphasis on keyword research. However, there is still a lot of value that an organization can gain. Here are few:

Dominating a niche

Websites that serve a specific niche will find keyword research useful. There is no better way to cover every single angle of a topic than using keyword research to surface all possible permutations of each keyword phrase. There is no better tool to get topic ideas for writing exhaustive blog posts.

Answering questions

A lot of questions get ignored during keyword research due to the low search volume. However, there is still a large audience for answers to a lot of these questions, and Google does a good job of associating similar questions with an answer.

Content improvement

Use keyword research to expand the breadth and depth of your content. Do not rewrite your posts unless it requires some form of correction. Look at how people search for the same topics now and expand your posts to cover the new phrases.

Improve site navigation

The words people use to describe something can change over time. Look at how people search and change the anchor text links in your navigation to make them more relevant in this day and age. People look for words they use when describing something, if they don’t find it, they will go elsewhere.