Cuil

Google killer! Google killer! Not?
A few ex-Google employees have set up their own search engine named “Cuil” (pronounced, “Cool”). They claim, as of this posting, to have indexed 121 billion web pages. About 3 years ago, Google had claimed only 8 billion.

cuil Google’s own indexing algorithm has been very popular with the masses over the last several years, it ranks pages based on their interconnectedness and adjacency, or at least that is what I’ve come to believe. Cuil apparently uses a method that delves more deeply into the actual content of the page. In other words, nobody really knows the inner workings of the search algorithms, besides the creators themselves.

Cuil is also one of the first search services I have used that spices up the results page. Instead of a vertical link stack, it makes use of horizontal space and relevant images. This makes sense, as monitors become more and more widescreen. It also looks pretty slick.

Also, unlike Google and most of the other search engines (besides maybe Ask.com), Cuil states they will not ever record user searches. For those people very serious about privacy, this could give Cuil an edge. Honestly, I could care less, I don’t mind that Google gives me a few ads targeted at my interests. I’d much rather see good deals on computer processors than hear about a Victoria Secret blowout sale. Or would I?

Go ahead and try it out at www.cuil.com. Come back and tell me what you think.

4 Replies to “Cuil”

  1. -_- I tried to use it to search a product for work, and it came up with nothing. So there’s an initial loss of Chantelle points.
    I did, however, decide to give it a second chance by doing some searches that were a little more fair, and I have to say… I really like the style. You’re right, it does look very slick, and the way that it’s put together (in my opinion) makes the clips more appealing and easier to read — not to mention the appropriate pictures. The search results remind me a lot of your blog!

    I like it. Not sure if I’ll be switching quite yet, but I’ll definitely remember the address.

  2. In my experiments, even though they claim 121 billion indexed pages, Google has the larger database. After all, Google claims they recently indexed their trillionth URL, even if they don’t record EVERYTHING, that is undoubtedly more than Cuil has at the moment.
    Then again, Cuil is only a couple of days old. For an initial launch, I’m impressed. I won’t be switching from Google just yet because I have a better feel for the algorithm (most people develop algorithm intuition without realizing it). As soon as Cuil is finished fleshing out a few more weeks of indexing, I’ll give it another thorough feel.

  3. Haha, I’m soooo excited you blogged about this. 🙂
    So obviously cuil isn’t perfect, but there’s potential. A few friends of mine who whore themselves out on teh intarwebs searched for their names and couldn’t find themselves on cuil (thats mega fail right there when your blog has 7000+ unique visitors a day and your brand is housed on 20 various social networking sites. epic fail)

    BUT…

    The premise they’re working off of makes sense and I predict a Microsoft purchase soon because we all know Ballmer & co could step up their web game. It’ll be interesting if the cuil team can truly rival, or maybe even surpass Google (It should be noted though, that if this happens, i’ll still be ultra google fangirl 4evr.)

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