Yahoo and Google Moving Ahead on Three Separate Projects

According to reliable sources, Yahoo (YHOO) and Google (GOOG) are moving forward on the following projects:

Forums at Search Engine Roundtable, are reporting that Yahoo has begun contacting U.K. advertisers about the impending launch of Panama. Snippets from the email Yahoo sent out can be seen at PPC Blog.

This is a good sign for Yahoo, as some investors believed there was a chance that Panama in Europe would be delayed. Investors think Panama needs to be rolled out across Europe during the summer months in order to avoid running into the “Holiday lock down” that typically happens across the Net, as sellers and advertisers focus solely on the big 4th quarter season, and don’t like change.

According to TechCrunch, Yahoo has begun testing links from its homepage to other non-Yahoo properties. The idea behind the tests is to make the Yahoo portal the most relevant place, no matter what you are looking for, which is highly unusual for a portal, except in advertising.

This should remind you to a degree of what eBay is doing with advertising, where eBay will take users off platform if it helps fill a need that eBay can’t address. It’s important to watch the trends on page views, unique visitors, etc., as this trial continues to see the what will be the ultimate benefit, or how it will impact Yahoo.

In a recent report in the IDG News, Richard Whitt, the Washington, D.C. telecom and media counsel for Google stated that, “We have not ruled in or out participating in the auction as a licensee” last Tuesday, which means Google is considering the option. The FCC will auction the 700 MHz wireless spectrum in 2008.

Analysts think that should Google be interested, it may do so as a partner, and we think the ultimate goal of the project would be to augment ‘net connectivity,' and not to build a competitor carrier.