SEO has completely changed now!
What really works in 2018?

Like before creating 10 - 15 articles for a micro niche website, doing on page adding keywords to the content and then keep making links until it gets ranked.

Its over now! SEO has now completely changed.
Comment backlinks will not help you now to get a higher ranking in the Google SERPs.

What matters now is just uniqueness and relevancy!

What should we do / what should we don't!

1) Create 100% unique and lengthy content, that covers almost everything about the topic that you're trying to rank for. (As posted on AuthorityHacker - From 2018 Google will give more priority to the pages that covers the whole topic in one. No matter how long your content can go. You can make it more powerful just by adding every single related topic.)
Confirmed by Ahrefs - A single page that is ranking for a short tail and very high volume keyword can also rank in the Top 10 results of Google for more than 10,000 keywords!

2) You can use your main keywords in your content in a ratio of how long your content is. 2 - 3% density would be fine. (Personally tried and worked really well). Over optimization of just main keywords cannot be a problem if you do it in a proper way. (Apart from over optimization of main keywords, sub-keywords or so called Long tail keywords can also let you down for a penalty!)

3) Google Penguin Algorithm is now working with the core algorithm in real time. But keep in mind that Google Penguin has now become really less affect able.

4) PBNs !!! - Google has confirmed now, when a domain drops now Google will hard reset its Link profile! That means whoever will register an expired domain he will get a fresh domain! Yes, this information is also confirmed and personally tested! That domain will not pass any Link juice to your money site!.
So what now? Seems like PBNs are dead now?!
No! PBNs are still active and a really strong way to get rank higher in google serps within no time. But you have to make your PBN by your own efforts. You will need to work on every single domain of your PBN for 3 months until it gets some Authority! You can also use these domains for Tier 2 Links! Way more effective these days.

5) Comment Backlinks - Comment backlinks doesn't really work now like they were doing before in the past few months! You need to diversify your Link profile. You should make every kind of backlink you can. Don't just rely on comment backlinks!
Still, comment backlinks can help in a big way if you make these links in a proper manner. Let me share my 2 experiments of comment backlinks on a blog. Same keywords - Fresh content.

*First Strategy (Failed!)
Started to make comment backlinks on High DA websites (Non relevant)
Do Follow / No Follow Mixed (With Proper Anchor text dilution)
20 - 25 links daily! Indexed with Web 2.0 method!
Indexing rate was fairly good!
Didn't got ranked even after getting 800+ Backlinks with 240+ Referring Domains!

*Second Strategy (Worked!)
Started to make comment backlinks on Relevant websites (This time didn't checked DA / PA or any SEO Score of a single website, we just made relevant Links)
Do Follow / No Follow Mixed (With Proper Anchor text dilution)
20 - 25 links daily! Indexed with Web 2.0 method! Indexing rate was fine!
Got 3 - 4 keywords ranked on first page with in 3 weeks!
After 2 weeks got ranked for the main keyword on the first page! Just with relevant comment backlinks!
Referring Domains were: 145 - 150.
No. Of Total Links: 1.1K
No. of NoFollow Links: 4% - 6%

What Really Works in 2018??
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Content:
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1) Landing page - Write for complete topic! Not just for the targeted keywords. No matter how long your content can go. Just keep writing about complete topic you're covering!

2) You can even post for related topic on your blog. (For keeping website up to date)

3) Keep updating your article and website every 3,4 days.

4) Recommended 2 articles per week.

Off Page:
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1) Relevancy! - A big factor now a days!

2) Diversify your link profile.

3) Use proper anchor text variation! Over optimization of targeted keywords doesn't hurt your website rankings but sometimes can be a + point if done in a proper way!

4) The most effective and working method of backlinks now a days is "Guest Post" - *** In a proper way *** On authority website *** - No matter the link is Follow or No Follow, if you're getting a link from high SEO score website it worth a lot!

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**--Why Guest Posts?

1) Links from guest posts are 90 - 100% relevant!
2) Mostly from Good SEO Score website!
3) Links from Guest posts can be really much powerful if done with Tier 2 strategy. - * Suppose getting a link from a 100% relevant & unique topic - with DA: 70 / PA: 55. - You know the power of this authority!
4) Posts should be made on unique and spam free websites! - Natural looking, with good Anchor text profile.
If you have questions drop it below, I will answer you

Could you elaborate more on what you mean by Google Penguin is now less effective? Since it is now running realtime and part of the core algorithm.