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Cuil Ain’t So Cool

Cuil Ain’t So Cool
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Mouse Icon On Find Over Person's Eye Through Magnifying Glass

Cuil.com (pronounced Cool), the new search engine developed by ex-Googlers, came out of stealth mode over the weekend to much fanfare. The news hook, of course, is the angle of ex-Googlers taking on Google.

They should’ve stayed in stealth mode until they had it figured out because they ain’t a challenge to Google (or Yahoo, Live.com and Ask.com, for that matter) any time soon. They would’ve been better off because ordinary consumers may just try it out and then abandon it, people like me who are in the search engine business in one capacity or another are going to try it out and then tell everyone why it’s so bad.

I took Cuil out for a spin yesterday and was underwhelmed, to say the least. My first search was for "minnesota twins" and, as you’ll see from the following screenshot (click on them for the large versions), while the search results include links to the official team web site and two popular Twins blogs, they also include links to sites that sell tickets and one link to a site about NBA basketball.

Google knows that a search for "minnesota twins" is an information search and thus I get results that are informational: The team web site, the Twins section of sports news sites, reference sites. Cuil, apparently, hasn’t figured this out.

"Minnesota Twins" search results on Cuil.com for 07/28/08

A search for information on the two major party candidates for US Senate in Minnesota was a bit more successful. A search for "Al Franken", the Democratic candidate, yielded plenty of relevant links but not one of them was to the candidate’s official web site.

"al franken" search results for Cuil.com on 07/29/08

A search for Norm Coleman, the Republican candidate, fared better with lots of relevant links but the link to his official site was buried beneath the scroll at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. For people searching just for the candidate’s name, the official campaign web site is likely pretty high on the list of things that searcher is looking for.

"Norm Coleman" search results for Cuil.com on 07/29/08

A search for Cuil itself yields a lot of irrelevant links that are mostly search spam but absolutely nothing about themselves.

"cuil" search results for Cuil.com on 07/29/08

Cuil calls itself the "word’s biggest search engine." That’s all fine and well but if you’re not giving me what I’m looking for, I could care less, certainly not enough to switch from Google.

Similar Posts:

  • Google’s Problem With Paid Links
  • Keyword Research On Xbox 360 Searches
  • Links’ Role In Search Engine Rankings
  • Google Analytics Resources
  • Is Search Engine Advertising Trustworthy?

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July 30, 2008 By David Erickson
Filed Under: Marketing News, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: al franken, cuil, cuil.com, Google, minnesota twins, norm coleman, search engine, search engine results

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The e-Strategy Content Marketing Blog covers all aspects of online marketing including search optimization & marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, mobile marketing & public relations.

David EricksonPublished by David Erickson, VP of Online Marketing at Minneapolis Public Relations firm, Karwoski & Courage.

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