E-news: Content marketing stats | Search behaviour updates | Free benchmarking templates

Hi {NAME}, Applying a strategic approach to your marketing means evaluating the role of your content and marketing assets at each stage of your customers' journeys. We're sharing our top free and paid resources to help you reach and convert more customers... Updated: Understanding consumer keyword search behaviour​ module How do you track onwards behaviour on your site for different clusters of keywords? By identifying the key phrases your customers search for, and their journeys to conversion, you can optimize your customers' experiences on your website. Our updated module [Understanding consumer keyword search behaviour​]( shares best-practice tips and techniques. Did you know... Over half of businesses plan to spend more on content marketing in 2024 than 2023? 2024 data from [Siegemedia](shows that nearly half (47.6%) of marketers have allocated $5K to $25K to spend on content this year. When planning your budget, it can be useful to benchmark your digital marketing effectiveness to help review performance, with tools such as our [free digital marketing maturity benchmarking templates](. Google's AI assisted search quietly rolls out to more users Appearing as a pop-up directly below Google's search bar, and essentially turning the Google search bar into a Google-trawling chat bot, the arrival of the Search Generative Experience (SGE) for a [small amount of US based non-test users]( suggests that a wider roll out may be sooner than expected. Apple is in talks to license Google's Gemini AI engine for the iPhone Google is already the default search engine on Apple due to a commercial agreement, but this suggests that Apple's own internal AI attempts are not proceeding as quickly as they'd like. Should this go ahead, it demonstrates that marketers should look beyond ChatGPT for delivering generative AI to customers. Read more about this story on [Tech Crunch](. Google Analytics is replacing 'conversions' with 'key events' to align with Google Ads As there is a discrepancy between behavioral events in Google Analytics which are currently described as 'conversions', which are not the same as 'conversions' from a Google Ads perspective, Google say this change unifies the experience across both platforms and makes it easier for marketers. [Learn more on Search Engine Land](. RACE technique: A structured approach to content marketing Taking a structured approach to content marketing means you can plan content to entertain, inspire, educate, and convince your audiences. Read more in Dr. Dave Chaffey's [free content marketing matrix blog](. ​​​​Our [Content Marketing Learning Path](, for [Business Members](, reviews content marketing essentials including content ideation, personas, benchmarking, influencers, editorial planning, copywriting, SEO, and use of AI. Have a good week, Dr. Dave Chaffey and the Smart Insights team If you'd rather not receive email updates you can [unsubscribe](.