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Cheryl LaGuardia

Cuil: YET Another Search Engine
July 28, 2008

My colleague Robin just pointed me to Cuil, a new search engine that, according to its web site, "searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft." It offers drilldowns ("a panel on the right-hand side that says “Explore By Category” with a list of subjects related to your search. If you roll-over a category, it will open and show refinements related to your search. If you click on one, Cuil will direct you to this additional information. By looking at these suggestions, you may discover search data, concepts, or related areas of interest that you hadn’t expected"), rollover definitions of terms in hits, tabs "that suggest ways to clarify your search," and navigation suggestions that display as you type queries. The site's management team has worked, variously, for Google, Stanford, the Internet Archive, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, so there's an interesting amalgam of experience right there.

In a quick and thoroughly unscientific searchoff comparing Google with Cuil, search results were as follows: Moroccan dance (Google: 1,740,000 hits, Cuil: initially, "No results because of high load... Due to excessive load, our servers didn't return results. Please try your search again"; eventually: 5,661,057 hits); urban growth Turkey (Google: 332,000 hits, Cuil: 34,360 hits); and Trader Joe's profits (Google: 185,000 hits, Cuil: 58,797 hits). In regard to the quality of hits: pretty much different kettles of fish, but if you'd like to see how Cuil says they improve search results, take a look at their FAQ. Their look and feel and displays are quite different, and my guess is that Cuil's success may depend upon searchers' reactions to those (that, plus Google's name recognition, and the fact that Cuil is not exactly mnemonically effective).

BTW, according to the site: "Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge". Sound familiar? Let me know what you think when you try Cuil; I'll be interested to hear your reactions.
More as it happens, ever searching,
Cheryl

Posted by Cheryl LaGuardia on July 28, 2008 | Comments (2)

July 30, 2008
In response to: Cuil: YET Another Search Engine
Ellen Knowlton commented:

In my own unscientific test, I searched two subjects of interest to folks in NH. We had a tornado here last week (!) and a quick search of 'tornado New Hampshire' brought 6 relevant hits on the first page of Google and only 1 on Cuil. Another search on 'Gene Robinson of New Hampshire'(Episcopal Bishop of NH) brought all relevant hits on the first page of both search engines. There is a misperception among search engine developers that the more results returned the better and faster you'll get what you want. Sorry guys! Searching more pages for more hits, just means more irrelevant information to wade through. Librarians know better, and a librarian is still better than Google (or Cuil). Ellen Knowlton Head of Reference and Adult Services Merrimack (NH) Public Library

July 30, 2008
In response to: Cuil: YET Another Search Engine
Cheryl commented:

Thanks for the info. about your test, Ellen, and I couldn't agree with you more about everything in your post. I wonder how many non-librarian searchers are getting fed up with scanning thousands of irrelevant results? My patience wears thin, I know.... Thanks again for commenting!