Here is a definitive answer:-
items that affect your ranking are
1. Domain extendion .uk is best for the UK
2. PHYSICAL LOCATION. now this is the one that causes the problems. A server can be LOCATED in a telehouse on canary Wharfe, but physically located in ANYWHERE in the world! The physical location is the country to hich the IP ownership resolves. Most cheap hosting companies will tell you they are phycially located in the uk when they are not, as they confuse physical location with whre the server is
3. In bound linking pattern, if you get lots of UK only links to a com located in the US, it will rank.
4. For google. Web master Tools country setting. Go into WMt set your home country for the site to Uk and you are sorted with Google
It might sound arrogant for me to say definitive reply, But I know the above to be true beyond question.
