Much Ado About "Project Panama"

There’s been much chatter about a Forbes.com article based upon a report by RBC analyst Jordan Rohan. The gist of the article is that Yahoo! is changing its ranking system for PPC ads, so that relevance, as well as bid price, is taken into account (the Google model).

Chatted with Yahoo! folks about this a few minutes ago, and suffice it to say they aren’t thrilled with the coverage, insisting that the Rohan report is rife with inaccuracies.

They admit, however, that they’re considering various elements that could be incorporated into their ranking model. They also acknowledge that they’re working on a new interface for advertisers to be rolled out in the second half of the year — something that CEO Terry Semel has been talking about publicly for some time.

Don’t know what to believe on this. Considering relevance would certainly make sense — it’s been plenty successful for Google.