There is no other way to say it. New search engine Cuil (prounounced “cool”) has made a splash launching across mainstream media and blogs this week.

A test run on search results for my name, returned 864,605 results (Sorry Chris, ha), compared to Google’s 2,400. More results, but less relevant and quite a headache to review.

Aside from questions of user interface, relevance and organization - Cuil is missing a very key factor for an Internet browser. Search results.

Comparison to Google may be unfair, but still warranted. According to ABC News,

After a day of searching on Cuil and comparing those results to Google, Google wins out every time, returning more results and more relevant results.

Need more proof? Consider this additional test run. It’s been very hot in the DC area lately, so I conducted a search for ice cream shops in the area, using a simple search of “ice cream”, “DC”.

Cuil: No results found if you use quotation marks. Without them, 46,290,886 results.

Results offered a plethora of ice cream websites. Only one of which was relevant to DC, Gifford’s. There are tabs on the side that let you choose to explore by ice cream brand name and parlors, but even breaking that down yields no usable results. It’s hard to determine ranking of results or any rhyme or reason to what you’re shown.

Usability factor: 2

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Google: 6,520,000 results

Results were arranged by store locations for Gifford’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Maggie Moo’s, and more. First search results were restaurant reviews, blogs, and other publications that rated the best ice cream parlors in the DC area. It may take some time to find what you’re looking for, but at least you get a good start to your search.

Usability factor: 9

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Conclusion: If you are hot and craving ice cream, Cuil is not the way to go.

It must be hard to even attempt to compete with Google. It’s a household name - noun and verb. Cuil may look pretty and have a more social media/Web 2.0 friendly interface, but it’s got a long way to go to become mainstream. Aside from the search problems, the dizzying three column interface will likely confuse less web-savvy users. There is a two column option, but it still appears messy.

Other issues include the fact that search results don’t often match up to the links (the text content and the URL link), and the Preferences tab really don’t offer any customization.

First impressions count a lot, and Cuil has banged the drum loudly, it’s just a matter of time to see whether or not the drumbeat will keep on going.