⚡️imFORZA

Happy Halloween from all of us at imFORZA. Wishing you more treats than tricks. 🎃

❝ imQUOTES: "Checklists are the price of admission, not the contest." Claiming your Google Business Profile, filling in the hours, adding photos, and collecting reviews gets you onto the map. The three businesses above you did all of that too. What sorts the top three is a short list the checklist skips: the exact categories you chose, the page your profile links to, whether you're open when someone searches, what your newest reviews say, and whether anyone is watching the listing for edits. The fastest place to start is the field your competitors can't hide: the category printed under their name on Google Maps. Paste this into the AI assistant you already use and fill in the brackets: Here are the three businesses in the Google Maps results when I search "[your main service] [your city]": [names]. For each one, find the primary category shown under its name on its Google listing and the services it lists. Then compare them with mine (primary category: [yours]; additional categories: [yours]; services: [yours]) and tell me which category or service gaps most likely explain why they're eligible for that search and I'm not, and which changes I can defend as true about my business. Only add a category you could defend on the phone. "Yes, we do catering" beats eight categories you added for coverage. Read the guide 👉 imforza.link/gbp-guide Share this with whoever set up your Google profile.

Instagram wants your long videos. Instagram is testing 90-minute videos. Your AI assistant may get a key to your WordPress site. Gemini 4 Carbon hunts security holes, defenders first. Decide what gets in. Happy Halloween. 5 minutes with imNEWS: imforza.link/subscribe

📰 #imNEWS: @Canva launched Brush, its first vision-language model for design, in Canva AI. Brush reads layout, layers, and style, then applies the edit you ask for, from one line of text to a full multi-page deck, and the result stays fully editable. Canva Research (about 160 people) built it as the editing counterpart to Craft, and Canva says it is up to 69% faster and about 46% cheaper per edit than the prior design agent. It is live for Canva Pro now, with wider access coming. 🔑 3 Key Takeaways ① It edits the design, not just the pixels Brush is a VLM trained on real design tasks. It can restyle a graphic, apply one change across many pages, or remix a slide into a social format, then inspect the canvas and refine. Outputs stay as editable Canva elements, so you can still take over in the editor. ② Craft generates. Brush rearranges. Craft (Oct 22) is Canva's in-house image model. Brush is the follow-up for layout work. Together they push Canva off rented models and onto its own stack, with Brush gated to Pro at launch. ③ Speed and cost are the pitch, not magic Canva claims up to 69% faster general editing and about 46% lower cost per edit vs its previous agent. Next on the list: Brand Kit support, attachment references, and better image-heavy layouts. ✅ Action Item If you use Canva Pro, open one live asset this week (ad, deck, or LinkedIn graphic), pick Brush in Canva AI, and run two jobs: a restyle and a format remix. Keep the file editable and note where you still had to fix type, spacing, or brand colors by hand. Source: imforza.link/R2KNwtg

📊 imSTATS: 93% of local searches for a business to hire showed Google's top 3 map results. Only 15% showed an AI Overview. You may have seen a different number: AI Overviews on 68% of local business searches. Whitespark, a local search software company, ran 540 searches across Houston, Phoenix, and Denver for plumbers, dentists, personal injury lawyers, real estate agents, and two medical categories, and split them by intent. The 68% is the average of three kinds of searches: 📚 Research searches (like "how much does a water heater cost") showed an AI Overview 92% of the time 🔀 Research plus a city (like "how much does a water heater cost in Houston") showed one 97% of the time 📞 Find-a-business searches (like "water heater repair Houston") showed one 15% of the time, and the top 3 map results 93% The search that ends in a phone call is still mostly a map. Whitespark sells rank-tracking software and 540 searches is a small sample, so read the exact figures loosely. The direction holds: AI answers the research question, and the map answers "who do I call." Read the guide 👉 imforza.link/gbp-guide When was the last time you searched for your own service and city and looked at who's in the map?

📰 #imNEWS: @WordPress is proposing to make sites natively agent-ready, so a user can tell their own AI, "help me with my site," then authorize it without installing a stack of plugins. Jason Adams (Make WordPress AI, Oct 28) frames this as democratizing publishing for the agentic web: MCP in core, native Abilities, OAuth instead of pasted Application Passwords, targeting WordPress 7.3 with 7.2 laying the groundwork. Jetpack, Elementor, and WPVibe already show demand. Adobe also reports AI-referred traffic converts 60% better and brings 53% more revenue. 🔑 3 Key Takeaways ① Not an agent inside WordPress The pitch is bring-your-own-agent. WP-CLI, REST, and files already work for power users, but they are not a consumer-grade connect flow. MCP Adapter exists as a plugin, yet users still install it, wire Abilities, and manage auth by hand. ② Four workstreams for 7.2/7.3 MCP Adapter iterated now, then proposed for core or a bundled path in 7.3. Baseline Abilities for common site tasks, some possibly in 7.2. OAuth planned for 7.3 (helps REST too), using the 7.2 Secrets API for tokens. UX is treated as its own workstream: discover, authorize, act, revoke. ③ Core will not ship this on vibes Leads are being recruited for MCP, Abilities, OAuth, and UX, paired with Core Committers early. Security review is explicit. Commenters already want REST completed instead of a second half-finished API. Inclusion still depends on readiness, not the date. ✅ Action Item If you run WordPress for clients, write the agent access policy this week: which roles an agent may have, which tasks are off-limits, and how you revoke it. Test MCP Adapter plus the AI plugin on a staging site, not production. Watch #core-ai and the 7.2 cycle so you are not scrambling when OAuth lands. Source: imforza.link/V4Jfp9D

📰 #imNEWS: @Google is previewing a Connected Apps Platform so developers can build once and ship capabilities into Search and the Gemini app from one console. New partner apps from Adobe, Calm, Peloton, Experian, and others are rolling out, with more than 50 Connected Apps already live. 🔑 3 Key Takeaways ① One build, two Google surfaces Developers integrate via a cloud-hosted MCP server or Android MCP using AppFunctions APIs, then register, test, and submit in the Google Connected Console. Before review, they choose Search, Gemini, or both. Access is opening in phases. ② Partner apps are expanding fast Integrations with Adobe, Experian, Localiza, and Peloton are live in Gemini, and Google says those will come to Search in the coming weeks. Calm is launching across both. The pitch is everyday tasks like groceries, playlists, and fitness without leaving Search or Gemini. ③ You keep brand control and get ops metrics Once live, developers can track traffic, latency, and error rates, and keep verified logos and authenticated accounts. Docs and preview signup sit at developers.google.com/connec…. ✅ Action Item If you sell or ship software, decide this week whether Search and Gemini are a distribution channel you want. Sign up for the preview, list the 3 user jobs you would expose (book, buy, status check), and pick one MCP integration path. If you are a marketer, not a builder, check which of your vendors (Adobe, Calm, Peloton) already show up in Gemini and Search, then test one real workflow your customers already do. Source: imforza.link/s1rLvyj

📰 #imNEWS: @Google just announced Gemini 4 Carbon, its strongest model yet, with a lead on cybersecurity and long-horizon work. It sits #1 on Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5.0 at 59, and Google is rolling it first to a subset of cyber defenders through the Fairwind Program, not the public yet. Same intro price as Argon: $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. 🔑 3 Key Takeaways ① Built for jobs that run for days Carbon is aimed at long-horizon engineering: root-causing and patching bugs across large codebases. Google says internal teams have seen it persist through dead ends for days. On WebDev Arena it jumped +89 Elo to #4 (1769). ② Cyber defense is the headline skill Carbon posts 88.2% on SEC-bench Pro (finding vulns), 54.8% on ExploitGym (exploitation), and 71.0% on CWE-bench (patching). Internal tests show more than 2x uplift vs Argon on generating secure code. Chrome reportedly saw more than 10x better high-quality patches vs another lab's frontier model. Wiz says it leads on web pentest benchmarks. ③ Limited rollout, same Argon price Google is in the U.S. government's voluntary pre-release testing process. Access starts this week for a subset of cyber defenders, then trusted partners via Fairwind, then developers, businesses, and consumers later. Price matches Argon, with cached input tokens at 95% off. ✅ Action Item If you sell or run sites, treat Carbon as a security-tooling story, not a chatbot upgrade. This week, list the systems you would let an AI scan or patch (WordPress, plugins, client repos) and who would review the output before anything ships. Do not wait for public API access to decide that review path. Source: imforza.link/YqAq78x

💡 imTIPS: Search for your own business on your phone at 7:30 p.m. Google would rather show someone who's open. In Whitespark's 2026 ranking survey, "business is open at time of search" is the #5 Google Maps ranking factor, and "proper hours set" climbed 64 places. A business sitting first in the afternoon can start sliding about an hour before its posted closing time. Run the test in five minutes: 1️⃣ Search your main service and your city from your phone after you close, the way a customer at home would 2️⃣ Note who's in the top three. If you vanished and a name you don't recognize showed up, you just watched the open-now signal reorder the map 3️⃣ Ask who really answers your phone at that hour. A person who can book the job, not voicemail 4️⃣ Fix the side that's wrong. If someone answers, your profile hours are too short. If nobody does, the hours are honest, and the fix is staffing, not your profile Run a restaurant with a bar that stays open late, or a phone line that runs past the front desk? "More hours" on your profile lets you publish them separately. Keep the main hours conservative: a locked door under an "Open" label earns a one-star review and breaks Google's guidelines. The full guide 👉 imforza.link/gbp-guide Follow us for one actionable marketing tip every Wednesday.

Your Google Business Profile is done. The hours are right, the photos are real, the reviews are good. And when someone a mile away searches for what you do, the same three competitors show up in the map and the phone stays quiet. We just published Why Your Google Business Profile Is Not in the Top 3 (And What Moves the Map Pack Now). Inside: 🗺️ Why the map still decides - 93% of local "find a business" searches showed the top 3 map results, and the same profile now feeds Google's AI answers 🚫 Five things you can stop doing - geo-tagged photos, keyword-stuffed replies, posting for rank, a bigger service area, and schema as a map fix 📍 The six signals that move the pack - categories, the page your profile links to, hours and the pin, reviews, defending the listing, and when to pay for the row above it 🍝 A real restaurant audit, gaps included - all six signals run on a client's profile, with what we found and what we recommended 📋 Six copy-and-paste prompts - run the same audit against the three businesses above you in about 30 minutes None of it is a rebuild. It's a handful of fields and one page on your website. Read the guide: imforza.link/gbp-guide Which of the three businesses above you would you most like to pass?

🛠️ imTOOLS: ReviewMix connects to your Google Business Profile, turns your review link into print-ready QR cards for your counter or receipts, and puts your Google reviews and customer testimonials into one widget on your website. Why this one: reviews that name the job and the place are one of the signals that decide the top 3 of Google Maps results, and the best time to ask is within the hour, while the visit is still fresh. ReviewMix turns that ask into a card on your counter, a table tent, or an insert in the receipt folder, so it happens every time instead of when someone remembers. It also stays inside Google's rules: Google says not to set up a review tablet or kiosk at your business, and a QR code lets each customer review from their own phone and their own Google account. How it helps: 📱 Opens Google's review box in one scan. Connect your Google Business Profile once to get a short review link and QR code that take customers straight to the write-a-review screen on their phone 🖨️ Prints for the real world. Pro includes a 6-format branded printables kit (counter card, table tent, receipt insert, window decal, sticker sheet, and bare QR code) with your logo and brand color, as a PNG for your office printer or a vector PDF for a print shop 💬 Combines Google reviews and direct testimonials. Import your Google reviews and collect short written testimonials through a link, with checkboxes so each customer chooses what you can show (name, company, photo, use in marketing) 🌐 Backs up your website pages. Embed both in one grid, list, or scrolling widget on your site with a single line of code, and reply to Google reviews from one inbox on paid plans Getting started: sign up free with no card, connect your Google Business Profile, and grab your review link and basic QR code right away, or use the 14-day Pro trial (no card required) to download the branded printables and test in-app review replies. The real limits: - The Free plan covers 1 Google business and 1 website with a basic QR code, weekly Google review refresh, and a "Powered by ReviewMix" badge on the widget. - The 6-format branded printables kit, daily Google sync, replying to Google reviews from the ReviewMix inbox, and removing the widget badge require Pro (€12/month, or €10/month billed annually). - It doesn't send automated SMS or email sequences from your CRM or POS. You put the printed QR code in front of customers or share the link yourself. - It's built and run by a solo indie founder in Romania (hosted in Germany), with email support (48-hour target on Free, 24 hours on business days on Pro) and billing in euros. Pricing: free forever for 1 Google business and 1 website (14-day Pro trial included, no card required). Pro is €12/month (€10/month billed annually) for up to 5 Google businesses, the full printables kit, daily refresh, and in-app Google review replies. 👉 imforza.link/reviewmix

📰 #imNEWS: @instagram is testing Features, a horizontal video format up to 90 minutes, aimed at podcasters, comedians, and other creators who want full-length shows on the app. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and product chief Tessa Lyons announced the test. Features will show in the main feed and Explore, with Reels that can link into the longer video. 🔑 3 Key Takeaways ① Short clips become the trailer Instagram is testing Reels that link to a full Feature, and it plans to let creators group related Reels into a series on their profiles. The bet is that Reels find the audience and Features keep them watching. ② TV is part of the plan Features will get priority in Instagram's TV app, which launched on Amazon Fire TV in the US in December 2025 and later expanded to Google TV and Samsung TVs. Apple TV support is coming. ③ No ad-revenue share yet Instagram is not sharing advertising revenue from Features with creators for now, though it left the door open. This is also not IGTV 2.0 in name: IGTV launched in 2018 as a separate app and shut down in 2022. ✅ Action Item If you publish video for a client or your own brand, map one long asset (webinar, podcast, workshop) into a Feature plus 3 to 5 Reels that each hook a single proof point. Do not wait for monetization. Test whether the short clip actually sends people to the long cut. Source: imforza.link/L2zrKLo

💬 imFAQs: Why isn't my business showing in the top 3 of Google Maps results? You claimed the profile, the hours are right, the photos are real, and the reviews are good. The same three competitors still sit above you in the map. You probably didn't set anything up wrong. Google's setup checklist is the price of admission, and every business above you finished it too. The order after that comes down to a short list of signals the checklist never asks about: 🏷️ Your categories. The primary category is the #1 Google Maps ranking factor in Whitespark's 2026 ranking survey, and additional categories are #8. One slightly-off primary and you're competing for the wrong search 🌐 The page your profile links to. Five of the top 25 factors live on that page: your name, address, and phone matching the profile, plus your service and city in the title and headings ⏰ Your hours, reviews, and edits. Being open at the moment of the search is #5. Fresh reviews that name the job help. And a stranger's suggested edit can go live in four days if your own website backs it up Read the full answer 👉 imforza.link/google-maps-faq Which competitor has been sitting above you in the map the longest?

What's one marketing job you handed to AI that stuck? And one you took back? One line each is plenty.

📰 #imNEWS: @Block just opened a research preview of Dessa, a full-duplex speech model trained only on human conversation, not text. The lab says talking with it feels like talking with a person because it keeps emotion, pauses, and timing instead of turning your voice into a transcript first. It even runs locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max or better. 🔑 3 Key Takeaways ① Speech-only training Dessa was trained from scratch on sound, with no text and no pretrained language model underneath. Block says that is how it learned when to cut in, backchannel, laugh mid-sentence, and change volume when you ask it to speak up. ② Full duplex, on-device It listens and talks at the same time, with inference faster than real time. Every fact it has came from raw speech, and the demos are live two-speaker recordings, not scripted lines. ③ Safety is part of the pitch The team reports to Jack Dorsey and is recruiting outside AI safety researchers for early access. Their argument: if voice AI cannot hear pain, frustration, or sarcasm, it will keep going when it should stop. ✅ Action Item Audit any voice bot, phone tree, or AI receptionist you use this week. If it transcribes first, it is dropping tone. Write one rule for when the system should pause, hand off to a human, or ask a clarifying question when the caller sounds upset. Source: imforza.link/9LGALDX

That ranking drop might not be real. Your rank report may show a fake crash. Claude Duet works while you're away, and asks first. PHP needs an urgent server fix WordPress can't make for you. Check the right screen. 5 minutes with imNEWS: imforza.link/subscribe

📰 #imNEWS: @canva just launched Craft, its first in-house image model, trained by Canva Research for design work rather than generic photos. It ranks #4 overall on DesignArena and #1 in portraits and landscapes, and it is live for every Canva user in Dream Lab plus a public API. 🔑 3 Key Takeaways ① Built for layouts, not just pretty pixels Craft plans composition first (placement, scale, hierarchy, text), then renders up to 2K across 30+ aspect ratios. That is why Canva is pitching legible type and object placement as the actual product, not another vibe generator. ② Trained on real Canva templates The data mix leans on millions of human-made posters, social posts, decks, infographics, and menus. Outputs are meant to drop into Magic Layers as editable design, which is the difference between a jpeg and something your team can still move around. ③ Cost is the quiet motive Canva has been paying other labs for image gen. Craft-fast and Craft-ultrafast are already in the pipeline, and MCP access is coming so agents can generate launch graphics as one step in a larger job. ✅ Action Item Open Dream Lab this week and run one real asset you would actually ship (ad, flyer, or LinkedIn graphic) through Craft. Compare type, layout, and editability against whatever model you currently use, and note whether Magic Layers saves you a rebuild. Source: imforza.link/yeKCsCT