The fact that actual case studies and reviews show linking is a leading key to better SEO, despite Google and its gurus claiming the opposite, should make people suspicious of the other claims that Google Inc keeps making about "what works now" in improving ranking. All that verbiage about how G can instantly shut down any and all BH tactics, all those articles (and forum posts) repeating the talking points about pursuing "clusters" and schemas over classic keyword research, and so on. Who really benefits from all that mumble speak?
Offpage backlinking works, that's the signal, most of the rest is noise. All those WH thread answers that sound like some people consulted the same AI generator to make them etc, may be mostly distracting clutter and brain rot. How about going with the best case studies, including SEO journeys you have under taken yourself, to find out on your own what's working now, instead of just buying into the latest corporate SEO industry decrees?