Even though I have my beef with both Yahoo and Google on unrelated issues, I can’t help but find myself getting all tingly with anticipation. Think about this for a minute folks. Basically, this could be Yahoo’s last stand against Google!

LOS ANGELES — In a bid to challenge Google’s (GOOG) growing domination of the Internet, auctioneer eBay (EBAY) joined forces with Google rival Yahoo (YHOO) on Thursday. The alliance brings text-based advertising to eBay from Yahoo and eBay’s PayPal payment program to Yahoo.

“This is a real boost for Yahoo at a time when they really needed it,” says Allen Weiner, an analyst at researcher Gartner. “Yahoo is in a battle to the death with Google and Microsoft (MSFT), and getting eBay’s base into the Yahoo network will make people look at Yahoo’s ad platform as a real plus.”

Weiner says PayPal represents 20% of eBay’s revenue. Expanding PayPal to the Yahoo network “is an interesting way for Yahoo to offer digital content for sale, like movies and TV shows, and offer its customers a really easy way to pay for it.”

Yahoo is the most visited website, with more than 100 million monthly visitors. But it has been losing market share in online searches to Google, which dominates the hot search advertising business — those little text ads that appear near search results. According to measurement firm ComScore Media Metrix, Google’s search share rose 6.6% in April over the same time a year ago, while Yahoo’s fell 2.7%…. Source: USATODAY