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Cuil is the "coolest" new search engine available.
Challengers to Google’s search dominance seem to spring up from time to time with each promising something different from what the Mountain View, California company delivers. Mahalo has tried to present a fresh alternative to the Big G as have Wikiseek, Gigiblast, and a handful of others, but none have seriously threatened Google’s leadership.
Now, a new search engine by the name of Cuil (pronounced Cool) promises to do what others have failed to do, claiming to have three times as many indexed pages as Google. Moreover, unlike Google, Cuil promises to make users’ search private, a subject of increasing concern for people who value confidential web surfing.
Promising to deliver a fresh approach to search with new algorithms based on an entirely new architecture, Cuil claims to index the entire internet, not just a part of it. The company says on their info page:
Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.
Then we offer you helpful choices and suggestions until you find the page you want and that you know is out there. We believe that analyzing the Web rather than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek. With Cuil, your search history is always private.
My first attempts at using Cuil this morning were rebuffed as I encountered numerous error messages and found broken links on the navigation bar. When I returned later, I was able to successfully enter a few keywords and observe the results. Unlike Google which lists Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) in successive order, the results on Cuil were in three columns, making it easy to scan what was returned. In many cases, related photographs were included, something Google does not provide.
Cuil also promises to drill down into the content on a web page, apparently with less emphasis on title tags when returning search results. Of course, you’ll have to experiment with this new search tool to grasp just how differently it works from Google.
Cuil management is made up of former Google employees underscoring that a career with the Big G isn’t for everyone. The husband and wife team of Anna Patterson and Tom Costello head up Cuil who, along with Louse Monier and Russell Power built the application. Cuil is backed by $33 million in venture capital and is based in San Francisco.
Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge and, interestingly, when you search for the word “cuil” on Cuil the results do not include a link to the search engine.
(Soure: Cuil.com and wire service reports)
Hi Matt,
Cuil certainly looks cool but I completely agree is not hot. They will need to work on their algorithms in order to put up any competition as far as big G is concerned. The sympathy of those who dislike Google will not be enough.
I am all for improvements in search engine results and have good intentions of using new services but tend to automatically use Google because of its ease of use with its browser add ins and out of habit. Any new engine will have to be very impressive to change user habits. I am going to try out Cuil though.
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Vlad — I agree. Inasmuch as Google is acting more and more like Microsoft, we need something that can deliver accurate, deep, and fast results. Day One doesn’t bode well for this company.
Sue — I’m with you. I won’t be quitting Google anytime soon, but once Cuil gets their bugs worked out, I can see me supplementing my Google search with Cuil.
For all their claims of having a bigger index, it’d be nice if their index was *accurate*. Doing a vanity search, I saw pages in their index which I know for a fact have been returning an HTTP 404 response for over a year now.
Schneemann, that’s terrible! Kind of reminds me of the old MSN — delivering up pages which were long ago deleted on sites I once old, but had closed down or changed. Their algorithm needs to be tweaked to toss the old pages.
– I have to disagree, Matt. Of course Google does provide this (example and it even delivers video results, news results, and much more. This is not the point.
My question is: who needs another search engine, be it even one based on “quantity” as Cuil? The engine has no semantic functionality and except the three column results pages I see nothing notable…
Another question: to have such a large database they must be having the most powerful servers in the world. Where do these people come up with the funds for such an endeavor? I think they aggregate data from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and other search engines…
I also see ex-Google faces in the management team, which raises other questions…
PS: they’ll have a huge branding problem… LOL… even you misspelled their name.
Mihaela, you are correct — Cuil isn’t easy to remember and I did spell the name wrong a few times. Yes, Google does deliver the occasional photograph, but as you said that isn’t the point.
Why should Cuil or any other search engine succeed? I guess because I’m loathe to support a monopoly. Many people have found that as Google continues to grow, it has become a much more faceless entity, one that is dictating search and internet access like no other company. For that reason alone, I hope that Cuil succeeds.
The Cuil team has a lot to work out and, as you mentioned, having access to more pages doesn’t equate success.
I think they got off to a bad start on Monday with a lot to work on from this point forward. As far as a possible legal battle with Google, I haven’t heard anything about that as of yet. In time perhaps we shall.
He he, Matt. I misspelled “Ciul” to start with myself and… “Culi”
I wonder what these mean…
As you know I am not a Google supporter, I criticized their hypocrisy more than once, but we also need to see things realistically: Cuil is not better (OK, they just launched, but even on the long run, what’s the point?) and it’s certainly not bigger (despite their statements – see the TechCrunch tests and Google’s statements) $33 million in venture capital is not even enough to cover the monthly costs for in depth search… Nah… just because they are ex-Googlers and they know how Google works doesn’t mean that they can actually build something better.
Without the man power and the financial power of Google it is unrealistic to think they will succeed. I think they were made to sell, like Powerset and hakia and others. I hope I am wrong and they succeed. But I don’t see how. I really don’t.
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Mihaela, you raise some good points! However, I will say this: the $33 million raised is likely only the beginning point for Cuil. Most successful ventures go out for a second or third round of venture capital fundraising.
That being said, the emphasis will be on the word successful. Very early on we agree that Cuil isn’t a success, that it got off to a bad start, and something needs to be done and quick.
Our wanting Cuil to succeed won’t make it happen, but I’m a patient man and believe that if the Cuil team has a good product, then they’ll work out the many flaws and come back stronger.
We need something besides Google; a viable product that can challenge the leader.
New search competition for Google from a site promising three times the number of searchable pages as Google.
I am of the view that cuil will not manage to break the big G’s dominance in search. Cuil is going to fade into the background just like the rest because we are so used to the big G. I am told that the big G can manage to search successfully only a fraction of the enormous, sprawling internet, and their index can never be entirely up to date.