Three Problems with the Cuil Search Engine

Cuil.com (pronounced “cool”) is definitely a hot topic at the moment.  Created by former Google employees, the site boasts a larger index than their apparent nemesis, Google.  But there seems to be something a little frayed at the edges.

First, I tried using the web site to look up a few known sites (legit, not from the underbelly), and the new search engine came back with nothing.  They may have more sites claimed, but as of this writing apparently not common sites that appear on the other major search engines.

Second is the name. A cursory look on google gives me people trying to search fro information on the new site (people are curious).  A few of the names found include Cuil, Cuil.com, Kuil, www.cuil.com, cull,ciul,cool search,quil search, cool search, and more.  The list goes on, but you get the point - Cuil does not look like it sounds like "cool", which is how people would spell it.  Google looks like Google, Yahoo looks like Yahoo, but not cuil.

Third is the branding problem.   The name looks strange but supposedly sounds like "cool.  Cool already exists in our common language, it describes something that is basically good.  It does not describe an action to take, and it is probably too ingrained in popular culture to change.  I cannot see someone going to "Cool" for a fact.  It does not sound right.  The act of branding would have been better served by a new word, not trying to rewrite a slang word that is in use way too much already.