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Only last year, the word on Madison Avenue was that while Google might be getting all the attention, Yahoo's human touch kept it in the game. No longer, with the disgraceful farewell Yahoo bid to star saleswoman Wenda Harris Millard, and its promotion of hapless nonentity Dave Karnstedt. Disgraced stock analyst Henry Blodget "chatted" with a "significant New York-headquartered customer of Google (GOOG) and Yahoo" and came away with numbers to close the case.

In 2004, the advertiser spent 3 times more money on Google than Yahoo. In 2005, the advertiser spent the SAME amount on both sites. In 2006, the Google-Yahoo ratio climbed back to 3 to 1. In 2007, the Google-Yahoo ratio will be a startling 9 to 1.

Telling numbers, no doubt. But the big news? The source told SAI the spending backswing has more to do with Google's obviously hungry sales force than with technology.