Have the basic principles of SEO site optimization changed?

Question

Search Engine Optimization

Guys, we need to optimize the catalog site. I didn’t really understand this before, but at least I tried to understand some basic principles. But time goes by.
Questions for promoting a catalog with a large number of pages:
1. Does weight transfer work through linking, for example, from many pages to a sales-home page?
2. Do unique texts work and is it worth the candle, or can you take a standard non-unique description of goods (and there are thousands of them).
3. What else is important to consider?
Thank you!

Answer 1

1- yes, it works the same as before.
2- product descriptions can be non-unique
3- pay special attention to commercial factors, usability and micro-markup.