This is one tough question and if you Google search for information on this, you will discover many answers, making the issue more confusing. We simply can’t get a concrete answer to this question. 

Let us rephrase the question to highlight the important points. How does hosting in one country while trying to rank in another country affect rankings in the search engines? For example, let us assume that your server is located in Canada and you want to rank in the US. Does the fact that the location of your hosting provider is a different country affect your rankings?

The answer is yes. Let us try to explain the answer as simple as possible.

The issue about server location and its impact on SEO rankings of sites is a very contentious topic. The search engines cannot provide definitive answer on this question. There are no concrete answers to the exact impact this will have on websites.

This article attempts to provide you with the basis on why we say so. Here are some of the key points of our contention:

• As of present, it is believed to be better hosted in the country that you wish to rank high. However, this does not mean that you won’t do well in rankings if your server is not located in the same country that you wish to rank high. This only means that the search engine tends to equate relevance to sites hosted in the same country.

• When you are working for a high ranking in UK, if you have a UK domain, this will surely work in your favor as far as search engine result ranking is concerned. The main reason for this is because the search engines attribute higher relevancy on the native country domain.

• The factor on server location is used by the search engine as a main parameter in delivering results based on location of searchers. This logical behavior is based on the fact that a website hosted in London is more likely to be relevant to a person searching for a service in London than a website hosted in New York.

• Google has already issued a statement that sites that are hosted in a location other than the country of operation may encounter serious problems. As to the extent, it was not clearly stated by Google.

• If we closely study Google for example, there are indications that Google consider the location of your site. The simplest way to determine the location is by setting the geographic target via Google Webmaster Tools. One can utilize this tool to let Google know the location of your site. For domain that is country specific, Google can show the country where the site is associated with and will not let you specify something different. On the other hand, if the domain is not country specific, you can indicate any location of the site.

Beyond all of these issues about ranking and server location, it is still best to have your website hosted in the country that you want to rank high. It is important to follow this as search engine equate relevancy with the location of the website in relation to the location of the searcher.