Sporting a sleek, black look and minimal amount of content, Cuil.com (pronounced “Cool”) launched today. This search engine is Google’s newest competitor, and, unlike the others, this one was actually built by former Google engineers. Therefore, we have high hopes for the search engine: Since it was built by former Googlers, we can assume this is how some of Google’s experts, devoid of managment and beaurocracy, think search should be done.

You can read a news article with the details on Cuil’s development and history here.

After Cuil’s launch, I excitedly visited the site to punch in my favorite search query: Graphic design springfield mo. On Google, this returns my portfolio website in the #2 position, which I’ve held for several months now. However, though I was pleased by Cuil’s magazine-like layout (results are returned in three columns, with more accompanying  text and a thumbnail image) I was disappointed to see that the search had completely failed. Not only was my portfolio site not listed, but I didn’t see any competitors either. In fact, I didn’t see any results related to graphic design in Springfield, Missouri. The top spot was a page about a local country music station, followed by: monster truck links, product info for a local hospital, motorbook automobile magazine, product info for video games, activities in Springfield, MO, nightlife in Springfield, MO.

I don’t get it. Obviously, I am being microscopically detailed in my analysis here (graphic design springfield mo), but if Cuil returns a shotgun-blast of randomness for this search, what is it returning for everything else? Obviously, there are some major flaws in this engine, and only time will tell if they can fix them. Regardless, I’m surprised they launched it when it was working like this (pressure from the venture capitalists?). The concern here is that as people come over to test it, they won’t see anything relevant in their searches, and they won’t ever come back.

I don’t think I’m the only one that wants to see Cuil meet some level of success. It is a classic David vs Goliath battle (kind of like when Google launched, but now Google is the giant). In this case, I don’t want to see Goliath killed by the upstart, but I do hope Cuil can do something better than launching 1,000 stones in the wrong direction.