I just lost an entire post from the Google and Yahoo panel. The post was lost due to typepad draft and save mode...grumble, grumble.

My memory of the panel is as follows:

Yahoo does lots of SEO and SEM -- just in a bigger and more complex fashion than most companies
It's just marketing and it's all about ROI. SEO does very well in generating SEO.
Google does no SEO (according to Google). It's all about creating great products for the user.
One other note: Yahoo has a SEO group but Google doesn't.
Speed matters a lot. It's the first thing users notices about a site and if it's just a little bit off a user notices immediately.
Navigability - Make a site that is easy to know where you are, to get back there, and to share with a friend.
Usability -- use underlined links (we don't do this that well at JB). Keep pages simple and understandable.

My original notes were much more detailed but alas....they're gone.