It appears that Microsoft is getting more selective retrenching some areas of Internet search, to compete with the industry leader, Google. On Friday, Microsoft announced that it was ending a project to scan millions of books and scholarly articles and make them available on the Web.

On its website, Microsoft announced that it would focus its Internet search efforts on certain areas where it sees an opportunity to compete against Google. The company unveiled a program offering rebates to users who buy items that they find using the company’s search engine on Wednesday.

Satya Nadella, senior vice president of Microsoft's search and advertising group, wrote, digitizing books and archiving academic journals no longer fits with the company's plan for its search operation.

According to the search experts, it’s an apparent signal that the Redmond, Washington based software giant is under pressure to show it has a coherent strategy for turning around its unprofitable online business after its bid for Yahoo Inc., last valued at $47.5 billion, failed this month. The search engine that has lagged far behind Google and Yahoo is giving up its efforts to be comprehensive.

Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of the blog Search Engine Land, said, “One of the reasons people turn to Google is that it tries to be a search player in all aspects of search.”

“We’re disappointed,” said Brewster Kahle, chairman of the Internet Archive. Mr. Kahle said that Microsoft was reducing its support slowly and that the Internet Archive had enough money to keep the project “going for a while.”