According to reports, Yahoo could soon add its users to its search engine, without knowing about it. The company's Chief Executive Marissa Mayer announced a partnership with Oracle that is intended to bring more users to try Yahoo search. He was speaking at the company's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday.

Users installing or updating Oracle's Java software will be encouraged to make Yahoo their browser's default search engine and home page, beginning from this month.

The deal could attract millions of users to Yahoo at the time when Mayer is pushing for the company to perform really well in Web search. Last year also, the CEO struck a deal in order to make Yahoo the default search provider for Mozilla's Firefox browser. This year also, it was in talks with Apple to acquire the default search box in the iPhone's Safari browser.

According to Oracle's site, in the US, Java software is installed on 89% of desktop computers and billions of devices throughout the world like connected televisions and mobile phones.

However, the partnership could go wrong if users think that they are being hoaxed into setting Yahoo sites as their default. A checkbox will ask users to 'set Yahoo as your homepage and default search engine on Chrome and Internet Explorer, plus get Yahoo as your new tab page on Chrome', if they download or update Java.

A Yahoo spokesman said in an interview that they have ensured that their onboarding process is highly transparent and offers choice to users.