Pikimal is a website, designed as a decision engine

Decision engine

A decision engine is a type of web search engine that uses input from the user in order to provide more relevant results.Typical search engines provide results based on key words and site popularity meaning that all users searching for the same phrase receive identical results...

 that uses consumer input to provide specialized search results for products and categories.

Unlike typical search engines

Web search engine

A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...

, Pikimal mines data to provide users with only the facts pertaining to their search, as a hopeful solution to SEO

SEO

SEO or search engine optimization, the process of improving ranking in search engine results.SEO may also refer to:* Seo , a Korean family name* SE-O or Västra Götaland County, a county on the western coast of Sweden...

 and marketing biased search results.

As of April 2011, Pikimal had 13 full-time employees in Pittsburgh, PA, interns, and various contractors around the world.

History

Pikimal was founded in January 2010 by Eric Silver, previously the chief marketing officer at Modcloth

Modcloth

ModCloth is an American online retailer, based in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, that specializes in vintage, vintage-inspired and indie clothing, accessories and decor. ModCloth's website features a blog, ModCloth Blog, that covers fashion trends, cooking, green living and music. ModCloth carries indie...

. The Pikimal site was launched in public beta form in October 2010.

Functionality

Pikimal allows users to adjust sliders to express what facts of a product are particularly important to them. These percentages are combined with an algorithm to provide users with product recommendations that are rooted directly in facts, but only the facts they find most relevant.