Yahoo's search engine noticed a spike in U.S. web traffic following Firefox's default search engine change from Google to Yahoo.

The move, affecting 35 percent of web users, has increased Yahoo's search share from 8.6 percent in November to 10.4 percent in December. It is the largest share Yahoo has seen since 2009, but analysts do not see it lasting long, as more Firefox users move back to Google or Bing.

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The stats are only representative of U.S. web traffic, and come from Dublin, Ireland-based  StatCounter, which also measures traffic on social media and operating systems. In a company announcement, StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen said "the move by Mozilla has had a definite impact on U.S. search."

Although Firefox is still a popular browser amongst older PC owners, it has been overtaken by Google Chrome and Internet Explorer in recent years. Firefox tried to update its web browser to offer a new look and aesthetic, and while pleasing for the old users, it did not attract a lot of new users to the browser.

Microsoft's Bing manages to hold 12.5 percent search share in second place, with Google far ahead with a 79 percent share. Google has been the majority holder of search traffic for over a decade now, following Netscape's demise.

The stranglehold on search share has made Google a target for the E.U. commission, not happy a U.S. company is enjoying all of the search engine traffic. Google has been fighting an anti-trust battle in the E.U. for over four years, and now the E.U. Parliament has voted in favor of splitting Google's search business from the rest of the company.

TagsYahoo, Search engine, Web browser, Firefox