The physical location of the server and cross-links

On official Google blog for webmasters appeared statement, clarifying certain mechanisms to be taken into account when positioning the parties. 

“Does location of server matter? I use a. Com domain but my content is for customers in the UK. 
In our understanding of web content, Google considers both the IP address and the top-level domain (eg. 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. “ 

      As you can see it confirmed what we wrote a long time. The physical location of the server is important in determining the position. Wonders just use me as an example co.uk, and thus search for Great Britain. It is at the best example can be seen, however, do only some countries have it so “colossal” value? 

      An interesting is this passage: 
“I have many different sites. Can I cross-link between them?
Before you begin cross-linking sites, consider the user’s perspective and whether the crosslinks provide value. If the sites are related in business – eg, an auto manual site linking to an auto parts retail site, then it could make sense – the links are organic and useful. Cross-linking between dozens or hundreds of sites, however, probably does not provide value, and I would not recommend it. “ 

      Cross-linking is a link between the same parties on the basis of 
A-> B, B-> A, that is, on one side is a link to the other, which is the link that says “return”. 

      How we see the statement is written in the context of the usefulness of such a mechanism for the user and not the mechanisms under way in the search engine. 
It wonders me that this has been negated in the event of such a link between a party unrelated topic. If someone has a few pages and several pages of the same topics, it is no longer meaningful. 

      With the observation of many people with several years showed that the positioning of pages is not a good mechanism, do any changes occurred that have not yet been noticed by seo staff? 

      In this way, on my list “for testing” appeared on the next point.