Confirmation that PR really does matter?

Has anyone any concrete information that PR does in fact affect placement in Google for keyword searches?

well PR means u have more backlinks on better search results so I suppose so :p

As per the original Google PageRank formula, if all other things remain constant, the PR will boost rankings. The PR is generally considered to the final "multiplier" in the formula. If a site compensates for a reduction in PR through other aspect of the formula it has the potential to rank as well as a site with a greater PR for a given keyword.

Some things are unclear, such as what weight the PR has in the formula i.e. will a PR of 10 saturate the formula, or will a PR of 0 eliminate other segments of the formula.. It seems that neither of these is true otherwise PR10 sites would outrank everything, and PR0 sites would never rank... so there is a blance, we just don't know what it is.

But in short, the concrete proof is in the formula.. Keep in mind that the formula may have changed.

i don't believe in PR and spend NO time on it....I still rank top 10 for all my keywords.

piel - competitive keywords?

Google is a formula - an algorithm - a pattern. Look for the pattern. Do you see a PR0 or PR1 above a PR6? Concrete? Only Google programmers know for sure. The rest of us looks for the pattern.

Your question, "Has anyone any concrete information that PR does in fact affect placement in Google for keyword searches?"

Answer, look for the pattern. I THINK it does according to the patterns of the keyword placements of web sites that I have looked at.

I think page rank helps identifty your competition, especially now when no one knows if current serps are here to stay or screwed beyond this planet. The larger the page rank, the more backlinks you will see. Sites with more links tend to have a nice variety of anchor text going on, as well as a large number of internal pages. They tend to rank better...Page rank helps me hone in on these sites to investigate them further. Sure you can beat a PR6 site with a PR4 site on the serps with better page copy. But i'd like to see you do it with a PR3. Use page rank as a tool to narrow down which competitors you want to look at more closely. If you rank well without even checking PR, pat yourself on the back for finding a niche keyword.