New Search Engine Takes On Web Titan Google By Vowing To Index 120 Billion Pages

It’s spelled “cuil”, it’s pronounced “cool” and it may have the folks at Google feeling hot under the collar.

It’s a new search engine being unveiled on the Internet this week that could give the California giant a major run for its money. Other entities – including mighty Microsoft – have attempted to encroach on Google’s web-leading territory before and met with mixed results.

Why should these people succeed where so many big moneyed competitors have failed? Cuil claims its innards allow it to search 121,617,892,992 – or more than 120 billion – web pages, estimated to be at least three times the size of Google’s current capability, although there’s no way to know for sure what the exact figures may be.

It was created by Anna Patterson – a former Google employee who perfected a previous search engine that was immediately purchased by the web giant itself.

And the upstart start-up also has the involvement of two former Google engineers, who have a clear insight into how the competitor works.

Why should you give it a try? The Cuil kids suggest their technology doesn’t assess the quantity or quality of links on a page or measure simply web traffic to give you the best results. Instead, it finds out about the actual content on a page, although its creators won’t divulge how it works.

It also presents them in a different format that isn’t just vertical links on a page. Users get photos and sidebars that not only show you what you want, but also peripheral information that might be of use.

And this one may be another reason that’s important to those concerned about web privacy – Cuil’s creators say their database won’t retain the search history of users or track their surfing habits – something Google does to allow them to target ads to those looking for something online.

The newcomer seems prepared to slog it out in the online wars to prove its point – it’s being backed by $33 million in venture capital.

For now, Google doesn’t seem too worried about the competition. It’s conceding nothing and a company spokesperson insists the engine still searches the most pages. “Having great competitors is a huge benefit to us and everyone in the search space,” responds spokesperson Katie Watson. “It makes us all work harder, and at the end of the day our users benefit from that.”

There’s a lot a stake as both companies rev their engines. Google started out as a college project  and has become one of the biggest players on the Internet, branching out into email, photo software, maps, translation services and even purchasing YouTube. ( See the entire list here.) 

Can Cuil’s Davids make things warm for this Goliath? Don’t count on it, says one expert. “Search has become as much about branding as anything else,” suggests analyst Allen Weiner. “I doubt (Cuil) will be keeping anyone at Google awake at night.”

But creator Patterson begs to differ. “Google has looked pretty much the same for 10 years now,” she points out, “and I can guarantee it will look the same a year from now.”

And in the ever changing world of the Internet, she claims that’s not ‘cuil.’

Try Cuil here.