But Marissa Mayer still faces many tough challenges

For quite a while now, Google has reigned supreme as the search engine of choice. It has remained ahead of industry trends and, in the process, fought back and, in some cases, erased competitors.

But there may be a new challenge coming from Yahoo. Is Yahoo becoming more relevant?

“Too often companies get too comfortable. It is easy to do things the way they have always been done but soon inertia of rest sets in.”

Since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO almost a year ago, there have been internal shakeups that demonstrate it will not be business as usual there. The recent and most exciting signs coming from Yahoo are its purchase of Tumblr and interest in purchasing a stake in Hulu.

Google has long since used its ownership of YouTube as a source for media traffic. Google+ attempts to garner social media traffic, and even its subsidiaries like Zagat help the cause.

But Yahoo’s moves are a sign of something larger. Too often companies get too comfortable. It is easy to do things the way they have always been done but soon inertia of rest sets in.

The steps Yahoo has taken won’t by themselves be enough to drastically shift market share, but they help Yahoo becoming more relevant and as an option that’s now viable and relevant to today. Let’s see what Marissa Mayer has in store next.