Plus, tips and resources for a stronger holiday season  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Raptive News SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 By Cristy Posten Content Manager Hi Raptive, The holiday season may still feel a little ways off, but now is the time to prepare the content, site experience, and plans that can support a strong Q4. Across the Raptive network, seasonal food topics drive significant search interest each year: Thanksgiving content generates more than 605 million monthly impressions, while holiday food and dessert content generate more than 1.1 billion monthly impressions. This week, we’re sharing ways to get your holiday content ready before demand builds, help more readers find and follow your work, and make sure Raptive knows about the seasonal content you already have planned for potential advertiser opportunities. Here’s what’s inside: • Set up Google’s newest features to help readers discover and follow your site • Use a 30– to 60–day lead time to strengthen your holiday content strategy • Spot and fix mobile-reader friction before your seasonal traffic arrives What’s new Help readers discover and follow your work on Google Google has introduced two ways to help more readers follow your work: Preferred Sources and Search profiles. Preferred Sources lets readers choose your site as one they want to see more often in Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Google also highlights Preferred Sources in Google Discover. Search profiles brings your connected content together in one place and lets followers find and follow more of your work on Discover. Learn more about these features, whether you qualify for a Search profile, and the steps to set both up. Set up Preferred Sources and Search profiles → Top resource Get holiday content ready before search demand peaks Search interest for seasonal topics often starts growing weeks before the season peaks. Learn how to plan, publish, and refresh content 30–60 days ahead, identify content gaps, and prioritize the updates most likely to support seasonal search performance. Get the seasonal content guide and checklist → Quick tip Give readers a smoother site experience “Spend five minutes experiencing your site on mobile as a first-time reader would. Open it in a private browsing window and look for anything that makes it harder to access the content, like crowded first screens, hard-to-close pop-ups, small text, or too many sticky elements. Small improvements can make it easier for readers to stay, explore, and come back.” James Baldwin SVP, Creator Performance In case you missed it Share your holiday content plans in this quick survey Holiday gift guides, recipes, hosting ideas, and other Q4 content can be a natural fit for advertiser campaigns. If you already have seasonal content in the works, share it with us. Knowing what you have planned helps our direct sales team identify relevant advertiser and brand partnership opportunities as they take shape. You don’t need to create anything new, and submitting an idea doesn’t guarantee a partnership. We simply want to know about the seasonal content you already have planned so we can keep relevant opportunities in mind. Tell us what you’re planning for the holidays → What we’re reading Catch up on news from around the industry • Google’s August 2026 spam update hit rankings harder than normal (Search Engine Land) • The latest sign of influencer commerce heating up: Levanta just raised $22 million (Business Insider | Gated) • Meta’s $18 billion settlement complicates brand-creator deals on social media (Forbes) Question of the week What’s your top priority this Q4? 📈 Traffic growth Optimizing content for fall search trends 📝 Fresh content Publishing new posts and ideas 💰 Revenue Preparing for Q4 earning opportunities 🧹 Site cleanup Refreshing and updating older content Thanks for reading! Was this email helpful? You’re receiving this email because you help manage a site that works with Raptive. To ensure our emails reach your inbox, add hello@email.raptive.com to your email contacts. Want to stop receiving Raptive News emails? You can update your preferences anytime. 1411 Broadway, 32nd Floor New York, NY, 10018, US © 2026 Raptive. All rights reserved. Unsubscribe | View online