Record online Black Friday spending
Online Black Friday spending reached 11.8 billion dollars as shoppers stretched decision windows and used Black Friday as just one reference point in a longer value hunt. RetailNext highlighted how consumers are firmly in control of the shopping experience, treating Black Friday promotions as one data point in the purchase. Marketing promotional strategies must run deeper than a single-day spike and follow intent across a longer comparison cycle.
Google Business Profile publishing tools
Google Business Profiles added post scheduling and multi-location publishing, giving brands a more scalable way to manage local messaging. Marketers with multiple locations can now coordinate updates with precision, which supports stronger visibility in high-intent local search moments.
Broader shift in how people search
Looking to 2026, many believe SEO will keep extending beyond Google – into voice, visual input, and social discovery, confirming how search intent now spreads across ecosystems rather than a single search box. Marketers benefit from optimizing assets for spoken queries, image-based recognition, and the social environments where local audiences increasingly initiate discovery.
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