What Do You Think of Cuil?

[jeff.stolarcyk]

Cuil.com was heralded by Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch as a 'Google-killer.'

Cuil is a search engine launched by a group of ex-Google engineers who secured about 30 million in venture capital. Despite the hype, the results have been severely disappointing.

Like this:


even searching for ebizinsider.com doesn't retrieve anything.

the query ebizinsider returns sites that link to or mention us, but we don't appear on the first page.

Can you guys find yourselves in Cuil's supposedly massive index?

What do you think of the interface and the general user experience?

Do you have any idea where it's pulling those incongruous image results from?

[cactus_donnat]

Wow! I cannot believe it didn't find ebiz insider- considering I get google alerts everyday for articles that appear there, so we know its being found in other engines.

I searched for a few things and I must say I like the layout of the search results--gives more information. But- when I searched for my own name, some strange stuff came up-- not the more relevant links that show up when I search in Yahoo or Google or Ask-- things like my blog, my page at Solid Cactus, my page on other social networking sites, as well as some articles I've been in, etc... Cuil had VERY irrelevant links for me. Where do they find this stuff? The garbage?

[cactus_jeanl]

Originally Posted by cactus_donnat

I searched for a few things and I must say I like the layout of the search results--gives more information. But- when I searched for my own name, some strange stuff came up-- not the more relevant links that show up when I search in Yahoo or Google or Ask-- things like my blog, my page at Solid Cactus, my page on other social networking sites, as well as some articles I've been in, etc... Cuil had VERY irrelevant links for me. Where do they find this stuff? The garbage?

I wasn't a fan of the layout! Maybe I just look at search engines so much that I'm hard wired to like the Google format!

I also did the vanity search for my own name and I found very little that was actually ME. Granted, my name is a little generic and a lot of my own pages struggle on Google at times, but I do get at least a few items that are actually me. The only thing I found on Cuil was my Twitter on the 3rd page of results. Not impressed so far!

[erikko]

so ive read in other SEO forums that Cuil isn't that good enough as a search engine and bugs still need to be fixed

[cactus_donnat]

Originally Posted by cactus_jeanl

I wasn't a fan of the layout! Maybe I just look at search engines so much that I'm hard wired to like the Google format!

I

Jean- hey- after looking at Cuil again, I kind of agree. at first I liked the layout, but then I realized your eyes have to go from right to left, up and down- so it's a little busy. But on the flip side, I like that they have a picture and more text. But definitely not as easy to give a quick glance to the results.

[cactus_jeanl]

Originally Posted by cactus_donnat

Jean- hey- after looking at Cuil again, I kind of agree. at first I liked the layout, but then I realized your eyes have to go from right to left, up and down- so it's a little busy. But on the flip side, I like that they have a picture and more text. But definitely not as easy to give a quick glance to the results.

I liked the pictures too. Maybe the layout of the search results just needs a little tweaking. Now if they could just NOT show a result for Jean-Paul Sartre when I search my name, I'll be all set!

[jeff.stolarcyk]

Originally Posted by erikko

so ive read in other SEO forums that Cuil isn't that good enough as a search engine and bugs still need to be fixed

Some of the major bugs include errors in the engine's safe search, resulting in adult images popping up even when the filter is turned on, and, in general, a high degree of inaccurate image results.

I'm hearing that Cuil launched early under pressure from its investors. But even as a beta product, it's a bit underwhelming. The left-to-right is unique, but they can be a lot more confusing to read than standard vertical SERPs.

[cactus_donnat]

Originally Posted by jeff.stolarcyk

Some of the major bugs include errors in the engine's safe search, resulting in adult images popping up even when the filter is turned on, and, in general, a high degree of inaccurate image results.

Yeah- I've noticed that not only are there irrelevant search results-- that the images that are attached to results are totally off-- makes no sense.