Does KEYWORD DENSITY still matter nowadays?

Keyword density still matters and it does not matter at all , it depend on you .
If you write a content for keyword density under 2% and in this process may be you are compromising with the content quality than it would be so wrong and on the other hand you write a content without having a keyword in it than google will be confused it what is that content all about and you have more difficulties ranking the same content,

My suggestion , start writing for user rather than google , write a content that attract your user forget about keyword density try to use the word that appeal your potential customers most and that end try to put keyword in the heading and title tag

It's still very important and should not be ignored. I keep mine around 0.5 to 1.2 % because the keywords can appear in other sections of the page which often don't get accounted for such as the sidebar, related posts, footer etc.

Yes, it matters, Keyword density is a percentage of times a keyword appears on one web page compared to the number of words on that page. Make sure about webpage keyword density, it should be not more than 5% and better to use synonyms for target keywords that reduce keyword density and help to create more relevant webpages

of course it's matter. as you know google doesn't check keyword tag so google knows your keyword based on your content.
I hope you understand what i want to say.

It's still not only a normal matter but also a big matter in SEO, according to Yoast Seo plugin, the keyword density should be lower 2,5% then it's good for your content.

Well, I write articles for people and not bot and still get ranked that way..

My testing shows it's niche dependent

I have one business I keyword stuff all the time and get page one rankings all the time, many times up to 5 listings on a page

Other niches, it's a fine line

You need to test and test some more, one size does not fit all

General solutions just don't work, testing is what works

Keyword density still matters and it does not matter at all , it depend on you .
If you write a content for keyword density under 2% and in this process may be you are compromising with the content quality than it would be so wrong and on the other hand you write a content without having a keyword in it than google will be confused it what is that content all about and you have more difficulties ranking the same content,

According to Searchmetrics’ 2015 Ranking Factors report, the top-ranking pages used their specific keyword approximately 8-10 times, while having an average of 1285 words on the page.

Your best bet would be to engage with an SEO expert. Each industry is very different so depending on your target market an expert in the field will be able to help you more specifically.

Personally, I think that the value of keyword density is decreasing even though it's still something we all need to be aware of.

Keywords have to be added to your content authentically or you become penalised by search engines so in that instance it's better not to have them at all.

A better strategy is to look at where you place your keywords rather than how many times you use them. For example, using a key word or long-tailed keyword in a H1 or H2 Header tag will get you much more ranking respect than using the same word ten times throughout the copy.

This answer isn't black and white unfortunately. If you had pages with the same keyword density you could find that one ranks higher than the other due to other factors which are also taken into consideration (such as genuine and authentic copy!)

While they may still hold a small significance, the problem on focusing on keyword density is that your copy looks staged and unauthentic which displeases the Google Gods.

You're better off sticking with genuine content, and engaging with an expert!

Hope that helps a little bit

Still, like it was ever something.

We intentionally include the keyword phrase in the textual content at least once, that's it. If it naturally happens to appear more times than that, so be it. We do make sure that it is in the title tag and that there is a variation of it in a heading. More important than repeating the same phrase, is getting related phrases on the page. You can see what other phrases Google might expect to see on a page by doing a search for the phrase, scrolling to the bottom of the search results, and making note of Google's "Related Searches"