Very interesting! Would love to hear your results. You are testing to see if the IP of the server is more important than marking the location in webmaster tools?

Thanks for the replies. Some clarification: we do own the .com domain. I was only able to get the ccTLD for brazil, not for any of the other markets we are targeting. For the other markets I have to use a subdomain or folder. I am still debating whether to set up the brazilian site on the ccTLD or to set it up on the .com (w/ subdomain or folder) and just redirect the .com.br to the .com.

We are launching in a number of international markets and I am trying to figure out if I should be launching them as folders, e.g.: /es (spanish), /br (brazil), /in (india) or whether they should be subdomains, e.g. es.mysite.com, br.mysite.com, etc.

In brazil we managed to secure the tld (.com.br) but not in other regions.

Whats the best strategy for us? I was thinking of doing folders as I understand that this strengthens the main domain, while subdomains are considered as separate sites.

For Brazil, should we also use a folder, or launch on the .com.br? I assume that using the .com.br means we will have to build up authority from scratch, and in addition, the authority we build up on the .com.br will not help to grow the .com

In addition, is there value in interlinking between verions  (the versions will have the same content but in different languages)?

Thanks!