“Search Engine World” returns to normal… almost

Well, only about a week after I posted the article about Cuil, and to be fair so did everyone else… it seems as though the much-vaunted, and hugely-hyped Cuil Search Engine has slid back in relative obscurity. Not totally gone mind you, but the “Search Engine World’s” pecking order has been officially re-established, with Google assuming its undaunted role as top of the search pile…

The online research and marketing company, Hitwise, has confirmed that after Cuil’s initial launch which caused the sites ranking and traffic to spike dramatically to around 106 (in most trafficked sites), over the past week or two the traffic has dropped off quite dramatically… down to 1034th in traffic and to number 34 in terms of Search Engines… So yes, I suppose one could say Cuil has almost come and gone…

Cuil’s impact was noted however, buoyed by a lot of media spend on traditional as well as online channels, as well as a HUGE amount of online buzz marketing, Cuil has shown the world that it is possible to take a “pot” at the mighty Google. Granted it’s going to take a large amount of money, technology and some serious “balls”, but even having all these factors in place, it is still a HUGE ask, so maybe we are just going to have to leave it to the seriously BIG players to slug it out (read: Microsoft)…

Must say, it is kind of sad that the hype has died and Cuil is just back to being one of those “other search engines”, the world of search was just starting to get interesting again…

The world of search has just got more interesting…

So during this past week, on Monday to be exact, the search engine world received another contender in the search stakes… “So what?” you may say… Many have come and gone, with only a few sticking around, and none of them have come even close to dethroning the search prowess and efficiency of Google.

Well… none until now… ok, ok, hold your laughter and hear me out.

Cuil.com is a new search engine that has its sights on challenging Google, and many industry insiders believe they may well have a slim chance of doing so too…

Reasons for this stem from the following facts:

They claim to have the biggest search index on the planet. With more than 3 times the web index of Google and more than 10times that of Microsoft, nothing to scoff at and definitely something that made me sit-up.

Along with this massive index, they have a unique way of displaying results (in a news like format with 3 columns and images),  and also have a slightly different outlook on indexing and displaying results (more on this in a future post).

Along with these unique way of displaying and indexing, they have another huge advantage over any other contenders to the search crown… quite simply they have a management and development team that have worked at Google and every other major search company, and know what it takes to be the best…

I did quite a few test searches with Cuil and I must admit that it returned really good results. Whether they were better or worse than results from Google, I am not sure, I suppose it depends on the query and the needs of the person doing the search.

Cuil does seem to understand the different meaning of words, the fact that one word could mean the same for different things and people. As an example, if you search for “proteas” then Cuil will return results for the flower, the nickname of the South African cricket team , gardening tips and then companies with that word in the name on the their results pages. Pretty cool

This knowledge and skill, partnered with a huge amount of financial backing, makes for a potent search force and only time will tell if it really will give Google a run for its money.

However, there is clearly a lot more to search than having a the largest index and great search results… If that was the only measurment criteria then surely Yahoo would have a much bigger share of the search market?