The news that moves growth.
A daily digest of what's happening in search, social, AI and advertising — curated headlines linking to the original sources, refreshed every morning.
Curated from the sources we actually read.
Last updated: 18 October 2026, 04:30 IST
Search & Digital Marketing
WordPress 7.1.3 Fixes 7 Vulnerabilities And 1 Critical Flaw
WordPress 7.1.3 fixes seven security vulnerabilities and a critical bug affecting image uploads that can result in a fatal error.
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Using AI To Assist With SEO Work, Not Replace The Worker
Here's how one technical SEO splits audit work: deterministic checks for facts, a local LLM to explain them, and a human to judge.
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OpenAI To Test Visual Ads In ChatGPT Image Generation
OpenAI plans a limited U.S. test of visual ads during image generation, alongside measurement updates that give advertisers more ways to assess results.
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Google Opens Search Profiles In India & Canada, Brazil Next
Google is opening Search profiles to creators and publishers in India and Canada, with Brazil to follow soon.
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Google Search Console Lets You Filter By Multiple Countries
Google is updating Search Console's Performance report filters so you can view combined Google Search traffic for several countries in a single filtered view.
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Google Changed Its Helpful Content Guidelines To Emphasize Good ‘Main Content’
Why don't SEOs talk more about Google's helpful content documentation? Its latest update shows exactly what the ranking systems are being trained to reward.
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Apple’s secret blocklist is the talk of Advertising Week New York (mostly off the record)
Advertising Week New York, a four-day conference that draws nearly 20,000 of adland’s finest, is renowned for on-stage programming tinged with optimism and creator reps…
Read on our siteReddit launches updated lead gen ads options
Other new additions include a test of in-market audiences and a new HubSpot integration as the platform expands its partnerships.
Read on our siteMeta tests Reels-first Facebook feed in India
The company, which is also experimenting with the option on Instagram, is expanding its trial of the feature before bringing it to more countries.
Read on our siteTikTok highlights creator recommendations for Halloween travel
The app is focusing on popular #FilmTok and #BookTok locations and suggesting vacation ideas tied to spooky themes and the fall season.
Read on our siteTikTok highlights creator recs for Halloween travel
The app is focusing on popular #FilmTok and #BookTok locations and suggesting vacation ideas tied to spooky themes and the fall season.
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Meta introduces new AI-powered tools at Advertising Week
The company is testing importing and creative insight features, as well as improved conversational guidance for its artificial intelligence elements.
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Meta introduces new AI-powered tools at Ad Week 2026
The company is testing importing and creative insight features, as well as improved conversational guidance for its artificial intelligence elements.
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Ex-Ramp engineers raise $20M for platform Melius after scrapping their first product
Instead of helping marketers manage and optimize ad spend, the company is focusing on building the tools that generate the creative assets and campaigns.
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How AI decision models could change content moderation
On Tuesday, Musubi announced a lightweight decision model made for real-time moderation called PolicyLM-1.7B, released with open weights.
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AI computing startup Lambda to raise $4B ahead of planned IPO
Nvidia-backed Lambda is raising up to $4 billion at a $14.5 billion pre-money valuation ahead of a planned 2027 IPO, led by Coatue and Blackstone.
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The next hurdle for AI agents: getting websites to let them in
Personal AI agents promise to shop, book flights, and make reservations for you. But deliberate blocks and anti-bot defenses are getting in the way, leaving consumers…
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Hark releases an AI personal assistant with a focus on privacy
The AI lab's personal assistant is an operating system from the future designed to compete with Muse, Dots, and Instinct.
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Mirror Particle is building a ‘world model’ of human behavior
Mirror Particle will launch at TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield 200 with a world model built from scratch to predict human behavior, arguing that LLM role-play…
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Anthropic is giving startups a free year of Claude Team and $1,000 in credits
"We created this program because we believe the benefits of AI will reach most people through the companies that build on top of models, rather than through the models…
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LibreOffice says ‘no AI’ is now a software feature
The maker of the open source document editor says it has no plans to add AI to its software's default configuration, citing user privacy.
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Mistral’s new 1T model aims to leapfrog closed and open rivals
French AI lab Mistral AI has released Mistral Large 4, a new large multimodal model aiming to leapfrog both American and Chinese rivals.
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Pinterest’s AI now turns beauty Pins into action plans
Pinterest’s new AI-powered Beauty Guides translate hair and nail Pins into salon terminology, with estimated costs, appointment times, and maintenance needs.
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Get all your questions answered at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: The full breakout session agenda revealed
Get all of your scaling and tech questions answered at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Here's the full breakout session agenda, happening October 13-15 in San Francisco.…
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