There’s a new search engine in town…

…and it wants to run the Mayor out on a rail.

It’s called Cuil -pronounced ‘cool’- masterminded by ex-Googlite Anna Patterson. She built a little engine that can: the search index spans 120 billion Web pages, at least 3 times the size of Google’s index.

Rather than trying to mimic Google’s method of ranking the quantity and quality of links to Web sites, Patterson says Cuil’s technology drills into the actual content of a page. And Cuil’s results will be presented in a more magazine-like format instead of just a vertical stack of Web links. Cuil’s results are displayed with more photos spread horizontally across the page and include sidebars that can be clicked on to learn more about topics related to the original search request.

Finally, Cuil is hoping to attract traffic by promising not to retain information about its users’ search histories or surfing patterns - something that Google does, much to the consternation of privacy watchdogs.

Loving this bit about husband Tom Costello’s naming of Cuil:

Costello’s Irish heritage inspired Cuil’s odd name. It was derived from a character named Finn McCuill in Celtic folklore.

Google has become synonymous with internet search and has it’s tentacles into advertising and let’s not forget ranking, which can make or break a person’s ability to make money off their site. If Cuil can succeed, more power to them. I’ll start using them today, though Firefox does not have a Cuil addon… yet.