Danny Does (in) Cuil – Politely. Me – less so.

Technorati Tags: Cuil,Danny Sullivan,Search Engine Land,Page Ranking,Relevanc,Search Engines,Privacy

 

Cuil Launches — Can This Search Start-Up Really Best Google?

Danny Sullivan’s excellent deconstruction of Cuil’s debut (launch would be generous) is instructive in as much for what its says about Danny Sullivan, as gentleman, as much as it does about Cuil, a Google for some of us.

Cuil does not seem to have just lost the second ‘l’ in the gaelic word for wisdom (Cuill). They seemed to have lost some wisdom. Bloated claims on indexed page size and relevancy, new age page ranking algorithms. three column displays to confuse us all, privacy protections, a minimalist infrastructure and truncated brand are still not strong enough arguments to unseat Google. And Danny is right about all of that. And he does his make his case politely, almost like a seasoned trial lawyer.

But I think he did miss the one big ‘Gorilla in the room’, ‘naked emperor’ issue. And that is Search is no longer a business model unto itself. The world has moved on and consumers have voted with their clicks.

With its pedigreed exec team and millions in backing, Cuil would serve itself well by looking for a better brand name. Having settled on a better one, i would recommend they stop making clones and start studying the human experience that search is a part of. Somewhere in there, staring us all in the face, is the secret to what lies beyond search.

Any takers?