Continuing the apparent trend of a few very large companies dominating the market share, Yahoo and Microsoft intend to work together on Yahoo’s search engine. Together, the two represent roughly 30% of the search engine market share, impressive if not quite approaching Google’s still-dominant 65%. The deal has sparked the usual collection of rumors, including some analysts’ predictions that Yahoo intends to abandon search engines entirely. Yahoo has staunchly denied any such plans.

Relying on Microsoft’s technology will enable Yahoo to change their focus. Yahoo has always sought to make itself a portal to the Interne, to provide everything its users need on a single page. To that end, their new search engine will feature much more integration with other social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and YouTube. Yahoo hopes to specialize in searching for people, enabling users to see Facebook messages, Twitter updates and follower lists, and other such details when searching for a specific name. The new material will be available in a sidebar to the left of Yahoo’s new search engine. “Yahoo’s goal is to be the center of people’s lives online,” said Tapan Bhat, senior vice president of integrated consumer experiences.

This deal is generally considered to be a good one for Microsoft, giving them and their Bing engine a needed boost in the public eye. Yahoo, in turn, may be conceding the field of actual search engines to up-and-comers, but they will remain a recognizable brand name and still be able to turn a tidy profit in advertising and referrals.

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