Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Development
    • Networking

    Cuil Search Engine Mismatches Brand Images

    By
    Clint Boulton
    -
    July 29, 2008
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Two days into general public use and startup search engine Cuil is already in hot water.
      Thanks to quirks in Cuil’s search algorithm, search results of some brands are popping up with pictures of competing or even irrelevant brands.
      Cuil Vice President of Communications Vince Sollitto just told me Cuil’s engineers are working on the problem. Sollitto indicated that the bug was a bump in the road of the company’s challenge in trying to provide an image next to every search result.

      The point of this is to offer a visual aid to help the user determine if that result is one the user wants to explore further. Instead of reading the 200-word snippet about the result next to the image, the user can use the image to decide if the result is click-worthy.

      “We are 36 hours in and are no doubt discovering bugs and fixing them left and right and we’ll continue to improve,” Sollitto said.

      Fair enough, but if Cuil doesn’t rectify the problem, people won’t get to the search results. They won’t go to Cuil, period.

      Sollitto also apologized for the July 28 access issues, noting that overwhelming traffic hampered the company’s servers’ ability to make the search engine available 24/7.
      The brands that pop up may be related to the search result, but it’s mixed marketing messages that users are concerned about, according to comments I received in my Cuil review earlier today, July 29.
      Trenton Baker, a marketing manager for network storage vendor Aberdeen, said several of his company’s industry-specific search results ended up with misused Web site photos and misleading content results.
      For example, a search for “Network Attached Storage” returns a result from NAS Network Attached Storage Server Review.
      The problem is that the picture associated with this review on the results page is one of Aberdeen’s own NAS devices, but when you click on the image, it takes you straight to the review.
      A search of “Storage Servers” returns a news release about a product from Aberdeen rival SMC Networks. Yet the product picture Cuil gives for this result is lifted from an array on Aberdeen’s front page. Click on the picture link and instead of going to www.aberdeeninc.com, you go to the SMC press release. You get the idea.
      “Unfortunately for small companies such as Aberdeen that try to compete with the likes of Dell and IBM, this search engine creates more harm than good,” Baker told me. “The branding that Aberdeen is attempting to create is quickly eroded with the product imaging misuse and content confusion.”
      Or take the comments from Jim Lapic, who said when one of his company’s keywords was searched on Cuil, “several of the other sites listed had images from our site next to their names.”
      Lapic claimed this was a keyword that gets over 10,000 searches a month, so it is not an obscure keyword with minimal results. He tried other keywords his company ranks well for and found several sites that had his company’s images next to them. Lapic concluded:

      “This seems to me to be very deceptive. Our competitors will be shown with our images, many of which [sic] unique to our company. With Cuil I found myself clicking on results based on the images as I could readily determine “yes, that’s what I was looking for”. I wonder how many have done the same thing clicking on our images but ending up on other websites.“

      There is definitely a search algorithm issue going on with Cuil, where the pictures are fairly, if not entirely, irrelevant. Cuil must address this and soon.
      I asked Sollitto when Cuil might fix the misleading image issue. He said he can’t promise that it will be perfect tomorrow, but that Cuil will “take dramatic steps on it in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

      Clint Boulton

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×