Hosting .AU sites in the USA

any issues?

[bill]

I know that we've had some lengthly [webmasterworld.com] discussions [webmasterworld.com] about the importance of hosting websites in China, but I'd like to ask the same question about .AU sites. Is it important to host your Australian domains in Australia? Is it OK to host them in the US or Europe?

[jeffposaka]

My idea is that if you have links from Australian sites it will help the most to associate it with the country.

I think an Australian domain name is another "signal" that the site's primary for Australian users.

[maccas]

It will be fine, I have a uk domain in the US and come up for UK sites only. Either IP or domain extension will get you into AU sites only, thats my understanding.

[bill]

Yup. I'm clear on those things.
I have a .com.au that I'd like to add to a cluster of sites hosted in the US. My reasons are purely selfish. I have a CMS software licence on that server and it would make my life easier if I could control that site from there as well. However, if hosting .au in AU is preferable then I'm open to that as well.