Hosting a UK website on an American server?

From Google's Blog:

In our understanding of web content, Google considers both the IP address and the top-level domain (e.g. .com, .co.uk). Because we attempt to serve geographically relevant content, we factor domains that have a regional significance. For example, ".co.uk " domains are likely very relevant for user queries originating from the UK. In the absence of a significant top-level domain, we often use the web server's IP address as an added hint in our understanding of content.

Read more: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/08/server-location-cross-linking-and-web.html

uk

Hi
No, I'm sure that isn't true but as the person above says, '.uk' domains will likely get some preference. So, if you've marketed your site over here in the .co.uk form (and Google can find you linked from other sites using that), then you've no problem.

In the case that Google finds both, you can (if you have a Google Webmasters account) tell Google to only use the .co.uk domain in its lists.

I'm fairly certain that this isn't true. I believe google simply uses the domain name for this, so being .co.uk you'd be fine. Google will recognise that the internet is a truly global place and that consumers are bound to take advantage of cheaper hosting deals in countries other than their own. Google itself has servers all over the planet, but not in EVERY country, despite having a page for virtually every country.

In some countries, 99% of websites will be hosted in foreign countries due to a lack of necessary infrastructure in the website's target country.