How does Local or International Hosting differ?

Hi All,

I really need help. I live in South Africa and would like to get 1st page ranking for a specific keyword in Google South Africa (SA).

I am going to register a local .co.za domain name here in South Africa and set up a Wordpress blog.

For SEO/ranking purposes in SA, can I host the site with Hostgator (which is in the US) or must I host the site SA?

What are your advice to me?

Thanking you all in advance.

I've read it's better to host locally if you're trying to rank in the google local results, i can't say either way but it does make sense that google would think a locally hosted site is more relevant than one hosted overseas. How much weight this carries i have no clue.

Tnx poisonembrace