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Google’s Search Central Live Heads to Mexico City and Bogotá — Register by Sept. 16
Google will hold Search Central Live in Ciudad de México on Oct. 15 and in Bogotá on Oct. 19. Register by Sept. 16; confirmations go out Sept. 21. Sessions cover Search, Discover and News, with Spanish translation available.
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Why PPC Teams Must Own Creative, Audiences and Attention
Demand Gen pushes PPC beyond keyword response: it requires creative strategy, audience insight and attention metrics to create interest before people search.
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EmDash 1.0: Cloudflare’s modern CMS — powerful features, new lock‑in
Cloudflare’s EmDash 1.0 adds AI site building and modern performance features—but many of its advantages depend on Cloudflare services, raising new vendor lock-in trade-offs for publishers, agencies and developers.
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2026 WordStream Benchmarks: Cheaper Facebook Clicks, Stable Lead Costs
WordStream’s 2026 Facebook benchmarks show traffic CPCs fell 14% while CTR rose nearly 13%, giving advertisers cheaper clicks and stronger engagement even as average CPL remained near $27.
The Promotion Playbook for SEO and Paid‑Media Managers: Prove AI Works and Protect Your Team
MIT and Harvard research point to a clear promotion test for search and paid-media managers: demonstrate measurable AI-driven productivity and present a credible plan for displaced work. Practical steps: an AI hours ledger, incrementality tests, swappable workflows and a one-page AI scorecard.
Black Friday 2026: Email Deliverability Checklist for Retailers
A focused checklist for Black Friday 2026: authentication, complaint-rate monitoring, one-click unsubscribe, dedicated sending capacity, load testing and fallback plans retailers must complete now to protect deliverability and revenue during peak shopping.
Rexel to buy GCG for $1.4B, adding up to $1.1B in annual revenue
Rexel will acquire GCG, a Chicago-based specialty wire-and-cable distributor, for $1.4 billion. The purchase could add up to $1.1 billion in revenue and expands Rexel’s reach into higher-value infrastructure and digital connectivity products.
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How Walmart’s Electronic Shelf-Label Patent Reignites Pricing and Privacy Questions
Walmart CEO John Furner said the retailer will not set different prices based on who shoppers are, but a 2023 electronic-shelf-label patent and the Vizio deal keep questions about potential personalized pricing and data use alive.
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When carriers run fulfillment: Maersk’s deepening operational role with Puma
Maersk will operate over 2 million sq ft of Puma’s North American distribution network, managing AutoStore-automated facilities and offering integrated fulfillment, transport and customs services. The deal signals transport providers moving into operational control of automated fulfillment.
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Costco launches nationwide delivery on DoorDash
Costco is now available nationwide through DoorDash in the U.S., offering more than 4,000 SKUs for same‑day delivery from local warehouses. The move broadens Costco’s third‑party delivery footprint and gives marketers another channel for reaching members.
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Essendant sells janitorial brands as WARN notices and litigation mount
Essendant sold its Boardwalk, GEN and Windsoft private-label janitorial brands to ORS Nasco while issuing WARN notices and facing litigation, illustrating how distributors monetize portable, high-margin assets when exiting a category or addressing liquidity pressure.
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Three Ways Retailers Can Win the Last Mile
Chewy COO Scott Anderson says retailers can compete with Amazon and Walmart by treating delivery as a differentiator, pairing metrics with customer anecdotes, and collaborating closely with carriers.
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De‑indexed? Check rendering errors before blaming cross‑domain canonicals
Google’s John Mueller says transient rendering or server errors — not cross‑domain canonical tags — are the likelier explanation when unrelated domains appear canonical for your pages. Use Search Console live inspection and site monitoring to diagnose and prevent these issues.
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Lowe’s pilots store-based 20-minute drone deliveries with Wing and DoorDash
Lowe’s is piloting drone delivery in Matthews, North Carolina, using Wing drones and DoorDash orders to deliver a curated set of over 100 SKUs in as little as 20 minutes, staged from a Lowe’s store.
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La Joya leans on marketplace fulfillment and absorbs higher shipping costs ahead of holidays
La Joya uses Amazon and Walmart multi-channel fulfillment and insures signature deliveries. The jeweler says it can absorb recent Amazon, USPS and FedEx surcharges because of high AOVs; smaller merchants may need different strategies.
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Ethan Allen seeks new CEO to accelerate digital, omnichannel and supply‑chain upgrades
Ethan Allen has launched a CEO search with a June 30 deadline amid activist investor pressure and falling sales. The board says the next leader must accelerate digital, omnichannel and supply‑chain improvements.
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Hills Distribution adds PexUniverse, bringing an 8,000‑SKU ecommerce catalog
Hills Distribution has added ecommerce distributor PexUniverse to its platform. The transaction brings an 8,000‑SKU ecommerce catalog to Hills, keeps key managers in place and strengthens Hills’ digital channel capabilities in plumbing and HVAC.
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Christmas Central owner Gordon Companies seeks Chapter 11 after failed order system
Gordon Companies, operator of Christmas Central and Christmas.com, filed for Chapter 11 in the Western District of New York with assets and liabilities estimated at $10M–$50M. The petition arrives amid an amended lawsuit over a failed order and warehouse system the company abandoned in 2021.
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Google’s AI Contribution Pilot Pays Publishers for Content in Gemini and AI Overviews
Google is piloting an “AI Contribution” program in Search Console that pays some publishers when their content significantly contributes to AI-generated responses in Gemini, AI Mode and AI Overviews. The effort is currently an early-stage pilot with limited participation and many open questions about scope, measurement and payments.
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Shein Expands U.S. Fulfillment to 2.5M sq ft with New Indiana Hub
Shein opened a 737,000-square-foot automated distribution center in Lebanon, Indiana — expanding its U.S. footprint to more than 2.5 million sq ft and aiming to bolster fulfillment capacity shortly after its Hong Kong IPO.
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Why AI citation counts wobble: formatting and model randomness outweigh source order
A new arXiv preprint testing GPT-5.4 with Exa finds formatting and model randomness influence AI citation decisions more than swapping source order. Measurement teams should rerun tests and control retrieval for live conclusions.
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Practical SEO Meets AI: Search Central’s Deep Dive Europe Heads to Barcelona
Google confirmed Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe will run Sept. 30–Oct. 2 in Barcelona, keeping technical SEO fundamentals while adding community-led AI sessions and hands-on poster troubleshooting.
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Google’s Search Central Live returns to Bengaluru on Oct. 30 — in-person technical SEO event
Google has scheduled Search Central Live in Bengaluru for October 30, 2026. The in-person, free event will focus on technical search topics, offer Q&A with Googlers, and requires application-based registration by October 15.
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Sept. 23 — SEO for Paws livestream: AI and search insights with fundraising for Kyiv animal shelters
SEO for Paws returns Sept. 23 with a free livestream featuring Barry Schwartz, Glenn Gabe and other search experts discussing AI and search while raising funds for animal shelters in Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Michaels expands Knit & Sew to 1,200+ stores and brings fabric to 90% of locations
Michaels has expanded its Knit & Sew Shop to more than 1,200 stores and now stocks fabric in nearly 90% of locations, following its acquisition of Joann’s IP and private labels.
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From Refunds to Remodels: What Macy’s $116M Investment Means for Marketers
Macy’s received $116M in tariff refunds and is investing most of the cash into brand-building, faster store remodels and operational buffers rather than broad price cuts. That bet protects margins and reshapes holiday and promotional strategies—here’s what marketers and merchandisers need to know.
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Google restructures EEA Search with aggregator and supplier units to meet EU DMA
Google has launched two new Search result units across the EEA — one for approved vertical aggregators and another for direct suppliers — to meet the EU’s Digital Markets Act. The change affects hotel, flight, long‑distance transport and product queries and will shift how visibility and traffic are measured in EEA markets.
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Search Trends, Narrowed: Google Trends Introduces Pre-Defined Category Filters
Google Trends now offers pre-defined category filters on the Explore page, letting marketers surface top-searched terms within a vertical and refine queries by category without first entering a search.
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How Gemini’s selective video processing will change AI answers on YouTube
Google’s Gemini now analyzes targeted video segments for Ask YouTube, cutting token usage and costs while improving accuracy. The mode is available to developers now and will power the watch-page Ask experience in the coming months.
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Search Console now shows AI performance and lets sites opt out — globally
Google has completed a global rollout of Search Console’s AI performance report and a site-level opt-out toggle. The report tracks AI impressions (no click data) and the toggle prevents sites from being used to ground generative AI responses.
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