Is a "private blog network" a valid SEO strategy where several sites I own are able to dominate the search results for our keywords?

Question

Strategy is:

• multiple keyword similar domains
• one canonical domain with the SaaS product
• other domains are "content sites" that contain articles
• all content is unique and quality
• content has links to canonical domain

Is this likely to work to create high ( < 10 ) rankings in Google / Baidu or is it likely to be penalized and push the site out of first page?

Further specifics

• this is an attempt at a PBN ( private blog network )
• the overall goal is to increase leads for the SaaS product achieved through the following three goals:
  • the primary goal is to gain rankings to the main CTA page ( landing page ) for keywords related to the problem and product to increase organic leads
  • the secondary goal is to gain leads arriving through clicks from content in the PBN
  • the tertiary goal is to build over time a collection ( in the PBN ) of quality content, expert level knowledge and thought leadership related to the problem and solutions to it
• one main idea being explored is that domains that are keyword searches ( such as alpineskirtours.com for the search "alpine ski tours" ) and that bear content that elaborates those keywords will tend to rank fairly well. As a consequence we are proposing to operate a network of such domains ( each named with a different keyword related to the problem ) all of which have quality content ( including in languages other than English ) that links to the product

Answer 1

Better focus on building one quality website with all content in it than having multiple domains.

I once worked with a company that build multiple websites for the same product, one website for the product, one as a blog with dozen to nearly hundred of articles related to our product and link to the main site, and some other site as "landing page". Trust me, it is hard to maintain so much websites and staffs tends to copy content over websites if they are in a rush. And the most important point, Google didn't like it and the traffic drops to about 10% in 3 years.

Answer 2

PBN's have proved to be working (only if done correctly) with Blackhat niches like Game Hacks and Movie downloads.

But as Google got smarter, it is very difficult to hide all the footprints that Google might be tracking.

PBN strategy is as simple as this:

• Purchase multiple domains (with unique owner info)
• Purchase hosting for multiple domains from multiple hosting providers
• Create all legit looking sites with social media profiles, etc (make each one look real)
• Now link to your site anchoring your targeted keyword.

But experiments and observations have proved multiple times in history that PBN's aren't working anymore.

More easier blackhat link building strategies have evolved that don't even look like link building strategies, for example: The Scholarship Link building method. (You may argue that it is not blackhat, but any activity specifically done for building links is termed blackhat so I win.)