Differences in US and International SERPs

[visualscope]

Hi all,
I was hoping someone could explain this phenomenon to me.

Why does international versions of Google (e.g. Google.ca, Google.co.uk etc) rank a US hosted site at #1 for a US location search keyword, e.g. "US City Name Blue Widgets".

While that same site is about 5 spots lower in the Google US results? I have seen a few incidences of this already.

Is this a case of a penalty, traffic throttling?

Thanks in advance!

[tedster]

It might be that among US sites there is simply more competition for that search, and lots less in the UK. Still, that's a painful result, I'm sure.

[Sarahcarling]

My guess would be that the site has a few UK based links pointing to it, making it the most credible source for ordering Blue widgets from the USA to b delivered to the UK, in googles opinion

[phranque]

welcome to WebmasterWorld, Sarahcarling!
=8)