Does purchasing backlinks still work? Anyone with success stories?

This is related to the thread I have written few days ago.
Obviously I am a newbie so I don't really know much about SEO yet, that is correct.
But I believe I have done research enough to figure out what is a good PBN and what isn't. (at least so I thought back then)
Also, my websites were aged between 2 years and 6 months old. So I believe they were in a good shape to build backlinks.

Checklist for Good PBNs
These are the criteria I have used to purchase my PBNs for 3 websites, from 3 different vendors, about 40 links for each websites.

Now about 2 months have passed since I have bought them. SERP changes? None.
I checked if it was google indexing problem with backlinks, like it wouldn't be working as intended if google didn't notice they exist.
About half of PBNs were indexed after 2 weeks. After a month, 3/4. Now, almost every backlinks are live and indexed.
Still no change in SERP.
(I also need to mention that quality of the PBNs were below my expectations when it comes to OBLs.)
(They are one time kinda PBNs, not monthly subscription based pbns)

This is why I started to wonder maybe I should start building tier 2 backlinks to my PBNs, as they would help them rank my websites.
But then I wondered, what if those PBNs were the problems?
Everyone knows google hates PBNs and that is why people try to hide their web footprints.
What if I wasn't ranking because google knows the backlinks I got were PBNs?

And now here I am, wondering if I have made right choice to purchase PBN service at all.
I know this is blackhatworld, and many people who are reading this are vendors themselves.
But I still ask for your input - has anyone had success with buying backlinks?


TL;DR - Title

Backlinks always work if you know what you're buying

HustleTong said:

Backlinks always work if you know what you're buying

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any tips on what kind of backlinks to buy?

superbro88 said:

any tips on what kind of backlinks to buy?

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contextual backlinks. The most common way through guest posts and Digital PR these days

Still backlink is one of the key factors of ranking. None can deny it.

TriggerDon said:

contextual backlinks. The most common way through guest posts and Digital PR these days

Click to expand...

thank you sir

@superbro88 You must look at 3 kind of backlinks to move the needle. One: niche relevant real sites with real traffic. Second: Country-specific links from general niche sites. Three: Popular authority links from authority sites which is relevant to your niche.

About PBN, I cannot tell if you have got it right. After the last Google update, the focus is shifting back to mainstream links, and I think you should work at that direction.

Backlinks always work when it comes to seo.

PBN links here (on BHW) are rubbish and you should never use them on your money sites. Why? What do you expect for a few bucks per links? Correct... AI or spun articles 400-500 word long, the articles which will never rank even on authority sites.
Get some links from some decent/ranking sites and maybe build PBN links to those posts but be careful there as you don't want to kill your good post by spamming it with low quality links.
I, personally, only use PBN links as tier 2 and only on the sites which have already a lot of links.

Backlinks always work if you know what you're buying

it really depends on the quality of the links and how they are integrated into your overall SEO strategy.

Get links from websites with traffic and also ensuring your in the same niche,thats what i know

In a span of 6 months I bought niche PBNs and PBN with good metrics (not spammed). It gave me good results. SERP increased - yes.