Cuil

Cuil (/ˈkuːl/ KOOL) was a search engine that organized web

pages by content and displayed relatively long entries along
Cuil
with thumbnail pictures for many results. Cuil said it had a
larger index than any other search engine, with about 120
billion web pages.[1] It went live on July 28, 2008.[1] Cuil's
servers were shut down on September 17, 2010, with later
confirmations the service had ended.[2][3][4]

Cuil was managed and developed largely by former employees

of Google, Anna Patterson and Russell Power. The CEO, co-
founder, and Patterson's husband, Tom Costello, had worked
for IBM and others.[5] Cuil's privacy policy,[6] unlike that of
other search engines,[7] said it did not store users' search
activity or IP addresses.[6]
The Cuil homepage
Type of site Search engine
Name
Available in Multilingual
The Irish ancestry of Anna Patterson's husband Tom Costello Owner Cuil, Inc.
sparked the name Cuil, which the company states is taken from
URL www.cuil.com (https://
a series of Celtic folklore stories involving a character, Fionn
web.archive.org/web/2
mac Cumhaill, they erroneously refer to as Finn MacCuil.[1]
0100910203434/http://
The company says that Cuil is Irish for "knowledge" and
www.cuil.com/)
"hazel".[8]
(archived through
Some linguists are unsure of this derivation and Internet Archive)
pronunciation,[9] and note that the modern Irish word for Launched July 28, 2008
"hazel" is spelled coll[10] (coill or cuill in genitive form, the
former spelling having superseded the latter as a result of the Current status Down (September 17,
Caighdeán Oifigiúil reforms of the mid-twentieth century). 2010)
Foras na Gaeilge, the official governing body of the Irish
language, did not support the assertion that cuil means "knowledge".[9] "I am unaware myself of the
meaning 'knowledge' being with the word 'cuil' in Irish", Stiofán Ó Deoráin, an official on Foras na
Gaeilge's terminology committee, said.[9] Even pre-Caighdeán dictionaries such as Dineen[11] do not
associate the cuil spelling with knowledge or hazel. Dinneen only lists two nouns and one adjective with
the spelling cuil: "f., a fly, a horse-fly...", "f., a venomous aspect; great eagerness..." and "gs. of col, as a.,
wicked."

The company name had previously been spelled Cuill.[12]

History
Cuil launched in July 2008 with an index of 121,617,892,992 web pages.[13] About one month after
launch, Cuil's product VP and search technologist, Louis Monier, quit the company citing disagreements
with the CEO, Tom Costello.[14] On December 19, 2008, BusinessWeek listed Cuil as one of the most
successful U.S. startups of 2008, based on the amount of money they raised.[15] As of February 2009, Cuil
had 127 billion indexed pages.[16] According to Alexa, the site reached a peak of just over 0.2% of
worldwide internet users in late July 2008 and by September 12, 2008, it had dropped to 0.02% and ranked
as the 5,340th site by traffic. By October 13, 2008, it had dropped to 0.005% and ranked as the 21,960th
site in traffic.[17]

Shutdown

PC Magazine reported that on the morning of September 17, 2010 "employees were told about Cuil's
demise ... and the servers were taken offline five hours later."[18] Laid-off employees were told they would
not be paid. The shutdown reportedly came after an acquisition agreement fell through earlier in the
week.[19] Their patents were sold to Google and Anna Patterson returned to Google to work for its Search
Engine department.[20]

Features
A user could log into their Facebook account via Cuil, which would then search friend updates for topics,
with search links. A user could also send messages to their friends through Cuil.[21]

Cuil worked on an automated encyclopedia called Cpedia, built by algorithmically summarizing and
clustering ideas on the web[22] to create encyclopedia-like reports. Instead of displaying search results, Cuil
would show Cpedia articles matching the searched terms. This was meant to reduce duplication by
combining information into one document.

Cuil was available in 8 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and
Turkish, with more planned for the future.[23][24]

Criticism
Cuil received widely critical press coverage.[25][26][27] Concerns were expressed about the website's slow
response times, irrelevant or wrong search results[28][29] and in at least one case, irrelevant pornographic
images displayed alongside search results.[30] Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch questioned the
validity of Cuil's claim that it had the world's largest search engine index and criticized it for focusing on
size rather than relevance.[31] However, despite reported problems with search results, Net Applications
reported that for the last three days of July 2008, Cuil beat Google and Yahoo in the amount of time spent
on a site after referral from a search engine.[32]

According to an interview with a Cuil representative, while other Web 2.0 launches using massively
parallel processing might fail with a slow down or crash,[25] Cuil's architecture was responding with
incomplete, "less-than-relevant results that then appear at the top of users' pages."[28][29] Cuil's VP of
communications Vince Sollitto said the search engine was experiencing heavy first-day overloads and they
were "busy putting out fires." Sollitto said Cuil "will only improve with time. It's day one. Traffic is
massive. We're new. There are bugs to fix, results to improve."[25]
After the initial critical press coverage, Cuil was alleged to have caused issues for some websites, owing to
how the Cuil indexing robot polled certain sites (including under its pre-release name, Cuill).[33] Many
website owners reported that the Twiceler crawler repeatedly hit their site with randomly generated URLs
in an attempt to find pages inaccessible by links.[34] Others reported irrelevant images associated with their
listing in Cuil's search results.[35]

See also
List of search engines

References
1. Liedtke, Michael, "Ex-Google engineers debut 'Cuil' way to search" (http://www.nbcnews.co
m/id/25884709), Associated Press, 28 July 2008, retrieved 13 December 2009
2. Michael Arrington (2010-09-17). "Cuil Goes Down, And We Hear It's Down For Good" (http
s://techcrunch.com/2010/09/17/cuil-goes-down-and-we-hear-its-down-for-good/).
TechCrunch.
3. Devindra, Hardawar (2010-09-17). "Supposed Google-killer Cuil's reign of terror may finally
be over" (https://venturebeat.com/2010/09/17/supposed-google-killer-cuils-reign-of-terror-ma
y-finally-be-over/). VentureBeat.
4. "Cuil is Stone Cold – Another 'Google Killer' Bites the Dust" (https://web.archive.org/web/20
100920192500/http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100918-132701). Search Engine Watch.
2010-09-18. Archived from the original (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100918-132701)
on 2010-09-20.
5. "Search site aims to rival Google" (https://web.archive.org/web/20211202163447/http://new
s.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7528503.stm). 2008-07-28. Archived from the original (http://new
s.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7528503.stm) on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
6. Your privacy (https://web.archive.org/web/20100526141113/http://www.cuil.com/info/privac
y/), Cuil, Last Modified: July 13, 2009
7. Liedtke, Michael (December 11, 2007). "Ask.com will purge search info in hours" (http://ww
w.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071211/BIZ/712110335). The Journal
Gazette. Fort Wayne Newspapers. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
8. FAQs (https://web.archive.org/web/20100526140522/http://www.cuil.com/info/faqs/), Cuil.
Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Web.archive.org (2010-05-26). Retrieved on 2011-06-
15.
9. Gohring, Nancy (July 30, 2008). "What's in a Name? Better Not Ask Cuil" (https://www.pcwor
ld.com/article/149167/whats_in_a_name_better_not_ask_cuil.html). PC World. IDG.
Retrieved 2008-08-03.
10. "coll" (http://www.tearma.ie/Search.aspx?term=coll). téarma.ie – Dictionary of Irish Terms.
Foras na Gaeilge and Dublin City University. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
11. Dinneen, Patrick Foclóir Gaeḋlge agus Béarla Irish Texts Society 1927
12. "Irishman launches Cuil but will it scare Google? – 'Cuil (previously known as Cuill)'" (http://
www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/11113/new-media/is-google-losing-its-cuil) Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20080805145250/http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/1
1113/new-media/is-google-losing-its-cuil) 2008-08-05 at the Wayback Machine. Silicon
Republic (2008-07-28). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
13. DoesWhat (August 22, 2008). "Cuil ... Internet ceases to expand" (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20080825184048/http://www.doeswhat.com/2008/08/22/cuil-internet-ceases-to-expand/).
DoesWhat.com. Archived from the original (http://www.doeswhat.com/2008/08/22/cuil-intern
et-ceases-to-expand/) on August 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
14. Arrington, Michael (September 11, 2008). "Cuil's VP Product Bails Out A Month After
Launch" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR200809110
2551.html). The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
15. Most Successful U.S. Startups 2008: Cuil – BusinessWeek (http://images.businessweek.co
m/ss/08/12/1217_hottest_startups/8.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2010040901
0755/http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/12/1217_hottest_startups/8.htm) 2010-04-09 at
the Wayback Machine. Images.businessweek.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
16. "History of Search Engines - Chronological List of Internet Search Engines" (http://www.wor
dstream.com/articles/internet-search-engines-history). Retrieved February 3, 2014.
17. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/cuil.com (http://www.alexa.com/data/details/t
raffic_details/cuil.com). Alexa.com (2010-02-16). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
18. Murphy, David, From Cuil to Frozen: The "Google-Killer" Eats Its Own Medicine (https://ww
w.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369346,00.asp), pcmag.com, 18 September 2010, retrieved
20 September 2010
19. Arrington, Michael, "Cuil Fails to Be Acquired" (https://techcrunch.com/2010/09/19/cuils-fails
-acquired/), TechCrunch, 20 September 2010, retrieved 20 September 2010
20. " 'Googler Killer', Cuil, Patent Applications Acquired By Google" (https://searchengineland.co
m/googler-killer-cuil-patent-applications-acquired-by-google-112186). Search Engine Land.
February 20, 2012.
21. Cuil (2010). "Link Cuil with Facebook" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100526141850/http://
www.cuil.com/info/help/facebook.php). Archived from the original (http://www.cuil.com/info/h
elp/facebook.php) on 2010-05-26. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
22. Cuil (2010). "About Us – Cuil" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100526134657/http://www.cui
l.com/info/). Archived from the original (http://www.cuil.com/info/) on 2010-05-26. Retrieved
2010-04-06.
23. Hema, Software Engineer (May 13, 2009). "Cuil in Multiple Languages" (https://web.archive.
org/web/20090517212143/http://www.cuil.com/info/blog/2009/05/13/cuil-in-multiple-languag
es). www.cuil.com. Cuil. Archived from the original (http://www.cuil.com/info/blog/2009/05/13/
cuil-in-multiple-languages?) on 2009-05-17. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
24. "Cuil – Preferences" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100526134805/http://www.cuil.com/pref
s). Archived from the original (http://www.cuil.com/prefs) on 2010-05-26. Retrieved
2009-06-18.
25. Needleman, Rafe (July 28, 2008). "Cuil shows us how not to launch a search engine" (http://
news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10000670-2.html). CNET news. CNET. Retrieved
2008-07-28.
26. Hansell, Saul (July 28, 2008). "No Bull, Cuil Had Problems" (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/20
08/07/29/no-bull-cuil-had-problems/). Bits Blog. The New York Times. Retrieved
2008-07-30.
27. Dvorak, John C. (July 28, 2008). "The New Cuil Search Engine Sucks" (https://web.archive.
org/web/20080802050525/http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2326643,00.asp). PC
Magazine. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original (https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,232
6643,00.asp) on 2008-08-02. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
28. Hamilton, Anita (July 28, 2008). "Why Cuil is No Threat to Google" (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20080729203034/http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1827331,00.html).
Time. Archived from the original (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1827331,
00.html) on 2008-07-29. Retrieved 2008-07-28.</>DoesWhat (July 29, 2008). "Cuil ... back
to Google then" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080914192745/http://www.doeswhat.com/20
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29. Burdick, Dave (July 28, 2008). "Cuil Review: Really? No Dave Burdicks? This Search
Engine Is Stupid" (https://huffingtonpost.com/dave-burdick/cuil-review-really-no-dav_b_1154
13.html). Huffington Post. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
30. Metz, Cade (July 29, 2008). "Ex-Googlers reinvent web search" (https://www.theregister.co.u
k/2008/07/29/cuil_launch/). www.theregister.co.uk. The Register. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
31. Sullivan, Danny (July 28, 2008). "Cuil Launches – Can This Search Start-Up Really Best
Google?" (http://searchengineland.com/080728-000100.php). search engine land blog.
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32. "Cuil Stumbles on Launch, but Beats Google in Key Relevancy Metric" (http://marketshare.hi
tslink.com/report.aspx?sample=16&qprid=38&qpcustom=Cuil). Market Share. Net
Applications. 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
33. "Cuill is banned on 10,000 sites" (http://www.skrenta.com/2008/04/cuill_is_banned_on_100
00_sites.html). Skrentablog. April 8, 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
34. Reisinger, Don (September 1, 2008). "Is Cuil killing websites?" (https://techcrunch.com/200
8/09/01/is-cuil-killing-websites/). techcrunch.com. TechCrunch. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
35. "How To Lose Your Cuil 20 Seconds After Launch" (https://techcrunch.com/2008/07/29/how-t
o-lose-your-cuil-20-seconds-after-launch). TechCrunch.

External links
Cuil (https://web.archive.org/web/20100916001435/http://www.cuil.com/)

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