Advantage to hosting on server in your own country?

[Onders]

Hi all, does anyone have any thoughts on where a server should be when you look for hosting companies. Have heard that having a server in your own country is best, but what are the reasons for this? Can a server in a foreign country (so a foreign ip address) have implications on your search engine ratings?

Once again, I look forward to hearing other people's thoughts!

[specter]

There is no difference about hosting location.
For the SEs it's the same thing.

[Onders]

Specter - if my company is UK based, and the server is based in the US, it should still appear in the big G results for "pages from the uk". How would G be able to tell that the site is UK based, and a UK resource? (apart from finding it in the content!)

[specter]

Sincerely I'm not able to answer to this question.
I haven't idea of this; I consider only the SERP, and about them, I can confirm that for the SEs its the same.

[quiet_man]

How would G be able to tell that the site is UK based, and a UK resource?

From your .co.uk domain. But if you have a UK-based site that has a .com domain and is hosted in the US, you would do well to get ranked in a UK pages search. Further, some folks believe that even if you have the correct country specific domain for your location, it still helps to also have hosting in your country too. Certainly some of the SERPs I follow here in Ireland would tend to support this.

Note - this issue has been discussed many times in the UK and Ireland Search Engines [webmasterworld.com] forum. You may have better luck posting there.

[Leosghost]

Makes no difference at all ..I have 20 domaines of my own that are in English and French some of them dot coms or dot nets ..some are dot fr's they are all on servers in the USA ( the cost is 25% of French servers for the same spec /bandwidth etc )..
They are all on first page of serps in all SE's for their targetted keywords and phrases whether the search is done from the USA , France ,Oz , wherever ..
I host many more mainly french sites dot Fr's in just French ( although some are dot UK's in English ) for others that are also hosted on servers in the USA ( for the same cost reasons )..they are all doing ok in serps for their owners and it does not ( when we test them by having friends in the respective countries search for them via SE's ) appear and has never done so that hosting affects their ranking ..
IMO this question is just one of the internet's myths

[quiet_man]

They are all on first page of serps in all SE's for their targetted keywords and phrases whether the search is done from the USA , France ,Oz

The question is not just about where the search is done from, it specifically referred to when the searcher selects the "pages from [regional Google country]" option. Are your US-hosted pages still top when a searcher in Oz selects "pages from Australia"?

Can't speak about France, but certainly the UK experience seems to support what you call an 'Internet myth':

why am i on the .com search engine but not on .co.uk [webmasterworld.com]
Getting a UK site listed in UK searches [webmasterworld.com]

[Leosghost]

Never tried that option as it doesn't interest me at all ..if someone wants to be as restrictive as to only search the pages that are hosted on servers in their own country I would suggest they get back to the 18th century and forget the internet ..
BTW the option prased as you put it isn't available from France ..using "G" or any other SE ..one can search "only pages in French" ..but cannot restrict to "only pages from France" ..thankfully ;-)