Importance of Country Domain on Forign Search Engines?

MSN results

[cafedelmar]

Hi all...
is domain prefix main reason why search engine results shows diferent in differnet countries.

Here is an example:

Deutchland MSN search for "DREAMWEAVER"
[search.msn.de...]

US/English MSN search for "DREAMWEAVER"
[search.msn.com...]

As you can see on "msn.de" searchengine it shows only .de websites on first page and on "msn.com" standard domains. Why is this, It's not because of META tags, or any kind of site optimisation.
I want my web site to be listed in forign search engines but domain is .com, so do I need to buy .de .fr .it domains or does .org .net ranks better because they are universal or it is smthin else?
TNX!

[rencke]

Local domains will often get extra weight and therefore rank higher in national versions of the major search engines, so if you are targeting European countries it is usually a good idea to have a local domain. This is particularly true if people select the local language or local domain options in Google. There is a price tag involved here, so a cheaper way is to use .com (not .net or .org). The really important factor is still language.

[sherwoodseo]

In my experience, when search engines offer an "only in this country" option, they take into account 1) local domains or 2) local IP addresses (i.e. the server box is located in the country.)

The choice of which to use depends on logistics. If you're living in that country, a local hosting account is easy to get, and so is a local domain. If you're a foreigner entering that country, then a local domain might be easier to manage, if pricier (because you can put your www.domain.{there} site on the same account as your www.domain.{here} sites.)

Plus, the local domain looks local to the locals - and they are your customers :)