Technically, and especially having read the “What is _____ Search Engine” series, it’s not an “Internet Search Engine” — it does not crawl and harvest unstructured data from other Web sites and then rely on keyword matching and/or complex algorithms in an attempt to select the most appropriate search results. Instead, we work with structured data.

Event Organizers register, are vetted, and enter their Events, selecting from established lists of Locations and Categories. Attendees select from the same lists when specifying what type of Events they’re looking for.

What then is it?

Michael Cohen, President
EventSalon, LLC

Thanks for your contribution to the series! I’m right there with you on all the points you make regarding some of the things that make Alts different (nontraditional, vertical, social, innovative, etc.). I’d like to make sure I’m understanding the last bit, though; you said:

[To define alternative search engines it is enough to separate them from the regular search engines. Yes, we’re coming to the point where we should define what a regular search engine is! But I have a great explanation, really. A regular search engine is a service with which SEOs work. Which makes sense for them to work. Meaning, this search engine has it’s own index, crawler and relevancy algorithm of course, which SEOs are so eager to beat.]

Are you suggesting then that an Alt is any search engine that doesn’t have an index, crawler and relevancy algorithm? Or that an Alt is any search engine that isn’t large enough for SEOs to spend time on?

It’s an interesting suggestion, that’s for sure! Basically what it would come down to is size: as soon as an Alt passes a certain number of queries, SEOs will start to game it and Charles won’t write about it anymore