Google observations

pr vs. keyword proximity

[JamesR]

After doing a hundred or so searches on Google you get a bit of a feel for things.

I am seeing higher PR pages out-ranking pages that have the exact search in the title or on the page. The higher PR page does not have good keyword proximity, but the words are mentioned on the page. Google seems to match first based on PR, word presence on the page, then proximity including title. Typically higher PR pages on a site will get the majority of the traffic and draw from a ton of keyword variations due to the words being mentioned on the page but not necessarily next to each other.

[ciml]

The way I see it, if PR and link text are similar for a bunch of pages, then proximity and title text are often the clincher. If the proximity and title text are similar for a bunch of pages, then PR and link text are often the clincher.

In the searches you've been trying, could link text be a decider?