Think about the math. Unless your toolbar PR is going to change from one export to the next, the "real" PR will be statistically close to, if not identical, to the occasionally-exported toolbar PR.
toolbar PR is only a snap shot .. the real PR is behind the scenes and is only updated every quarter (ish) by google. likely they are getting a fresh content boost and have some decent inbound links on good keywords ..
Rankings and PR have no connection. Rankings come from: 1. On Page Optimization: Metas, Keywords, Content, Interlinking 2. Off Page: Link Building, SMO If you are doing the above things right there is no way you cannot get rankings on even the most competative keywords even with a 0 PR site.
My site has a PR0 and is ranked #1 for "Queretaro Language School", "Study Spanish Queretaro", "Learn Spanish Queretaro"... and dozens of other variants. If you are in a small niche it is easy to get to #1.
Google does use PR in their SERP Criteria, it is Google's guidelines. Some guy posted a link with a similar thread which was a shortcut to a google page stating that....Although PR is a factor (why else would Google punish sites by lowering PR as a penalty in certain instances) it isn't a major factor and shouldn't have the focus most people give it....Most people dwell for no reason, such as duplicate content with regards to article submission...Why? So many people focus on the wrong thing.
PR have so influence only on very compatitive keywords, for example, if i try to find site.com I can give 80% guarantee that site.com will be on the first place.
The recipe: -Tons of quality backlinks (with the right anchors, probably the most important factor). -Good and unique content. -Properly setup tags(title,h1's, description, keys,etc). -Domain name with keywords and age are a huge plus. -follow the google guidelines. -Don't overdo it. The page's PR value is not that important.
I would rather have no PR and rank on the first page of 18,460,000 pages of a "very" competitive keyword. To me visitors are more important than PR