I’ll try to update my feeds so it ignores the updated items, but that is going to be a time suck if I have to do it one-by-one.

Are you happy with Google Reader? How much of a delay is there?

There’s a setting you can change on a per-feed basis that tells Bloglines what to do with “updated” items in the feed (and someone told me that “updated” even includes new comments… depending on how the site is set up). I went through my 300+ feeds and set ALL of them to ignore updated feeds.

But it didn’t work. I still see the same stuff multiple times during the day. So I’ve switched back to Google Reader. It’s not as quick to update with new content as Bloglines, but there isn’t a duplicate content issue, either. So for me, it was a toss-up between seeing updates faster or digging through a crapload of duplicate content.

I think if you look at the folks laughing they are all in the SEO space. I think it might be more of a nervous laugh than anything. If we can make Mahalo work–and I admit that is a HUGE if–it means that SEOs will not be able to trick or manipulate the search results.

So what will SEOs do if their optimization skills are neutralized? Well, I think they will focus on what they should focus on: making better sites for humans.

In many ways I’ve learned that SEOs are doing the only thing they can do: game the system. There is no way to talk to Google, Yahoo, or Ask about a search result. You can only “talk” to their algorithm.

Compare that to Mahalo where you can submit a site and discuss the result pages with a real human. Which is better for SEOs? I think it’s better for SEOs to work with use to get their clients properly ranked based on their accomplishments–not their ability to game the algorithm.

Consider this my olive branch to the SEO industry: you guys focus on making great site, Mahalo will get your clients the listing they deserve (at least for the top 1/3rd of searches.. machine search, well, keep working the system).

all the best,

Jason