Why ccTLDs matter
Important in international SEO, ccTLDs are the single strongest way to show search engines and users that site content is specifically targeted to a certain country or region — but, importantly, NOT specifically a certain language. When a site uses a ccTLD, Google assumes that site (and all the content on it) is
specifically relevant to the geographic area targeted by the ccTLD and should appear on SERPs in that area.
https://moz.com/learn/seo/cctlds
Unless it is a well-established business, Google tends to rank the TLD from the same country higher in the search engine results pages (SERPS) than the multi-regional websites. For example, if a user in the U.K. searches for the term “used BMW 328i,” Google tends to show results with .co.uk over those with .com or other generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Taking this into consideration, it makes sense for most organizations to build a website for the U.K. audience rather than to use the multi-regional website.
https://www.clickz.com/when-cctlds-can-make-a-difference-in-the-overall-seo-campaign/37201/