It was announced that Google takes into consideration, amongst a plethora of other variables, the location of your server that hosts your website. Although this was known before it helps to have it confirmed by Searchnomics 2007.   Really, it makes perfect sense.   If you search for the same phrase on Google.com and Google.co.uk you will get different results. What this tells us is that if you are an American company selling to American consumers you should host your website on an American server – not a server in another part of the world.   Thank goodness my server is only up in Michigan. Just a short (well not really short) drive away.   –