Cuil, the next big search engine?

[Spastic]

Anna Patterson may be known to some of you for creating the biggest search engine index of 30 billion pages before being snapped up along with her technology by Google in 2004. In 2006 she then left the search giant to create Cuil (pronounced “cool”).

Cuil is another search engine, but Anna along with her husband Tom Costello and two ex-Google engineers, believe it is a giant leap forward from the technology that powers Google search. For starters she claims it has an index of 120 billion pages and that it far exceeds Google’s current index total. The underlying algorithm used for searching is also very different. Google ranks pages based on their linkages, but Cuil focuses on scanning the content of an actual web page rather than the links to and from it.

Cuil also offers the user a very different search results page. Instead of a long list of links you get something that looks akin to a news site, with links spread across the breadth of a page and images used generously. There is also a set of categories relating to a search on the right hand side of the page, mousing over these expands them giving you a range of related links as well as your main results

So this sounds like it has potential to be Google's only real competitor in the search engine market. The thing I like is that this actually gives you results by relevance of the page, not how many pages link to it, therefor eliminating "Google bombing".

But don't just get your opinions from here, give it a try yourself. Just go here (http://www.cuil.com/) and see how you like it. Could this be the one true successor to Google? Or is it bound to fail like Askjeeves and all the other crappy search engines?

[MaxAlcolo]

No results because of high load...

Due to excessive load, our servers didn't return results. Please try your search again.

This is certainly not holding my attention for now.

[Spastic]

It just launched, give it a bit to work out the server load. I used it and I have to say that I need to get used to the non-Google type search result layout. They were decent results, though.

[tunacake]

The whole news style thing actually seems pretty .. :roffle: Cuil!

[Assassin]

It sounds like a good idea, but I'm not liking the interface. In the end I think I'll just stick to Google.

[MaxAlcolo]

I know, that's why I'm probably going to give it a more serious try in like a week or something. I, too, am a bit confused with how the results are shown. Though it seems like it gives you a better description of what you can find by clicking on the links than Google does.

[tunacake]

I'll have to try it again when I actually have to search something. I've just been searching random words.

[Beefynick]

It is ok. I do not think it will be competition for google since google has more than just a search engine, such as gmail and google maps, so I have a feeling that this will go the way of Ask Jeeves and Lycos.

[Spastic]

I meant in the search engine component, not the company as a whole Beefynick, as stated in my first sentance. They do have 120 billions pages indexed, which is a lot more than Google has. With some fine tweaking and a little word of mouth I can see it becoming more of a competitor than Google has seen thus far.

[Beefynick]

I am not talking the company as a whole either. Many people use the services Google offers as a company, such as gmail and Google maps ect., so they will be more likely to use Google as their search engine based on comfort of convince. I do not think it matters to the general public if a competitor is better for searches, they are still going to use Google because it offers them other services which makes them feel comfortable with Google.

[Spastic]

While that may be true, and I do see your points, if this gets the right word of mouth it could become big. Not saying it will or anything, I'm just saying under the right circumstances I can see it taking off. The creators were two engineers for Google, after all.

[tunacake]

Now 20% less snappily titled.

People are gonna be pronouncing it wrong and stuff. 'Google' just rolls off the tongue so nicely.

[Clerlic]

I "cuiled" myself and mostly got results about infractions/warnings on this very forum :\ Google doesn't upset me that much, I'll stick to it.

[CharlieH]

This is like the whole Microsoft vs. Apple thing.

No, it can't.

[Mr. Crow]

Interesting.

I don't like the interface, and it's not really possible to see much difference in the effectiveness of the ranking system. However, Google's top sites tend to always be highly relevant and useful.

[devilsgunner]

To the average user the number of pages indexed doesn't matter whatsoever. Google is simply too well known to be taken over, no matter how 'superior' any competitors are. Google is simply a user friendly site that 99% of people use for general searching, plus there's the fact that they have numerous other services that are in constant use.

I also dislike the way Cuil presents the results, sure it may have a few extra features and may be 'visually appealing' to some, but I hate it. Firstly, it's not as easy to filter through the results for something specific you're looking for. The search results aren't to my liking, they just don't really seem like they have any sort of definitive order to them, and the page just looks too cluttered to be frank. I also dislike how the main page is presented visually, sure the buttons and text may look 'savvy' and 'minimalist' , but the bland nature of the page really doesn't make me want to use the service. The average user doesn't often use a search engine that goes for the minimalist approach, most people prefer to have a few options and extras to help further their experience.

There also seems to be no image search, which is a fairly big knock back if they're really trying to compete with Google.

In reality, with Google being as big as they are, and having such commonly used services such as Google Maps and Gmail, nobody is really going to be able to compete with them. There's also the fact that almost everyone knows Google, Cuil is going to need a fuckload (and I really mean a fuckload) of advertising if it's even going to think about competing with Google.

[Ommurg]

It's nice and all, but as its been said, Google is just over-all, superior. Most of the time you're not going to need much more than Google has to offer.

[Lag]

It just doesn't sound as funny "Cuiling" yourself.

[tunacake]

I'd change my vote to No if I could, after some more consideration. Google is just such a monster. The only time I can see myself using Cuil is if I can't find something on Google. Even then I might end up using Yahoo or something.

[Ercoledi]

Cuil indexes 12 billion pages? Google will match it. Like tunacake said, Google is a powerhouse. It's been a staple of the internet for forever and won't be knocked off its perch by some scallywag with a pretty design. Google'll respond.

Besides, when are you likely to need multiple search engines?

You don't screw with Google. Cuil's going down.

[BurgerKueen]

The idea is good, but it still needs more work. I searched for my name to compare the results with Google and Cuil just gave me the member list of some social networking site (about 15 different pages from it).:indiff: I tried a few other searches but I'm not really satisfied with it so far, maybe it's because I'm used to Google so much.

[Shmuh]

Search Explosm then look at the first link's image.

[Relaps]

I googled Relaps, and got my Explosm profile and all that crap.

I used Cuil, and got misspellings and some french dictionary.

[Hawke]

Yeah, nothing can really beat google. I hate all these new search engines that use pictures and advanced flash shit to create results. Google is plain and simple; all you wanna do is search for websites, not get a whole description taking up half the search page about the website before you even click on it.

[jewishjosh]

The interface is weird but it's the kind of weird that you could get used to if it's really that much better. Right now it isn't "that much better" but I think Cuil has the potential. I do like the idea of content-based searches instead of popularity-based searches. For now I'll stick with Google out of habit. I don't need to be a trend-setter, I'm happy to jump on the bandwagon if and when Cuil adds more features or gains more clout.

[Graft]

I think that it's going to be the "cool" search engine that "cool" people will use for a while, but it'll eventually fade away. But, that's what alot of people thought about google. I remember when everyone at my school would use "dogpile", just because noone had heard of it and it made them look more in the know.

[MistyTehMoose]

Without image search this definitely won't get anywhere. The interface will take some getting used to, as well.

Search Explosm then look at the first link's image.

Ahaha, what the hell?

[Shmuh]

If Cuil does get more popular then Google, Google will just use it's billions of dollars to buy it out or something. Or to just change their interface to be like Cuil's except better. No way this is getting bigger than Google.

[BKS]

I googled Relaps, and got my Explosm profile and all that crap.

I used Cuil, and got misspellings and some french dictionary.

I don't get it on either. Fucking stock options.


I hope that Cuil DOES get bigger. It only prospers growth between the two companies. However, I do like the layout a bit. It offers a bit more into the site I think.

[Hunnter]

T'is quite good, but it still has the same annoying problem Google has, page numbers going off the list because you go too far left / right.
Whats wrong with a little "enter page number" text box, or a drop-down?

As for how it will do, well, it will need to do a LOT more than it is now, because i can't see myself switching to it from Google, i use it every day, often.

Also, it badly needs to fix the seperation of similar sites.
I'd rather have every link to a site under one category, with relevance, than have them all seperated across god knows how many pages.
So far for me, i have just found a bunch of ps3forums posts, sites with the regular "hunter" spelling, and other crap.

[I_Smell]

Plenty of things are better than Google right now, but they're not as popular because IT'S GOOGLE. I think this'll be another search engine nobody's ever heard of.

[CasinoCloudz]

Ask.com is better

But i think its just people need a more heard of and respected thing than Ask.com.

Google is tops though, easy, they will just upgrade their shit

PLUS: Cuil didn't have images as far as i could tell. When you even searched images Google was the first thing that came up haha.

[Spiffy13]

It sounds like a good idea, but I'm not liking the interface. In the end I think I'll just stick to Google.
I might be on Assassin with this one. But it does seem really cool, so I'll just see where it goes.

[Arantor]

Cuil does have a few problems:

1. If you happen to typo the name, you get to a "Bad Place". This is left up to the reader's discretion. But it is one of those places you should be warned about.

2. The 'helpful' picture you get on some results isn't helpful. If you're lucky it might be something tangentially related but frequently isn't. In some cases (like searching for one of the Cuil programmers), you got explicit nasty pictures even when the 'safe' search was on. Apparently it's been fixed now but I hated the darn thing.

3. When Google used to quote the number of pages they had, it was well over 8 billion, and that was a couple of years ago. They stopped counting on the front page because of spam and duplicates.

4. Google's technology is actually sharper, in my opinion. Aside from all the other Google stuff, they've just announced the ability to search into Flash files better, so those sites that had Flash-only navigation structures can be searched far better now.

I really can't see Cuil as a Google-beater. Ask's campaign a couple of years ago ("The algorithm consistently..." stuff) showed it had promise, but it's lost momentum. MSN/Live isn't a contender because it doesn't have the index to back it up (hence MS trying to buy out Yahoo, to align themselves as #2 in the search stakes)

No, the next generation search engine will need to be something pretty special indeed, and Cuil just isn't it.

[potolife]

Well, the interface is MUCH nicer than Google's. Very clean, sleek looking. However, search results were less than satisfactory. I tried doing a search on something that (I believed) would get me tons of pages: Presidential candidates on big issues. No results were rfound. I thought it might be just too specific. I tried this same search on google and got plenty of results (some relevant, some not so much). I tried an extremely simple search on Cuil: cats. Got lots of good, relevant, well-organized results. When searching Google with cats, I get a lot of random, unorganized results. I did this quite a few times by searching other narrow and broad topics, and I've found that Cuil is best for very broad topics, and Google's better for the more specific searches. To be honest, I'm not going to be searching "cats" too often. I'm going to search something along the lines of "indigenous cats of north america" (which also returned no results), so Cuil's pretty much useless to me until it fixes this. Even if Google's a mess of unorganized pages, I still get SOME result.

[GCBC]

I'm going to say no. I personally didn't like it. Also, this: http://startupmeme.com/cuil-made-a-fool-of-itself/

[Purple-shirted]

Cuil is very bad. Indeed

[TangerineOrange]

I dislike how Cuil presents information, but that could just be my own personal resistance to change.

However, besides that, I found that when I searched something, such as a person, there were many results presented, but many of those links went to sites or pages that didn't exist anymore.

[Prawnatron]

Cuil has a good idea but it can never compete against the big boys.