There are a variety of methods that retailers use when marketing their products. As more consumers go online to buy from brands, merchants are now turning their attention to digital marketing techniques to attract shoppers to their sites. One strategy that seems to be working for businesses is paid search advertising.

This tactic involves paying to have brands’ products and goods advertised on popular search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. According to a recently released report from Kenshoo, retailers across the United States saw a 23 percent increase year-over-year in revenues driven by paid search in 2012. Of the clicks generated by paid search advertisements, 20 percent were through mobile devices, which is more than triple the amount in 2011.

“Smart retailers capitalized on increased online consumer shopping activity this past year by proactively creating product-level search campaigns and optimizing them throughout the holiday season,” said Aaron Goldman , chief marketing officer at Kenshoo.

Forbes offers some other suggestions for thoselooking to improve their online marketing strategies. The source recommends that businesses take the time to see things from the customer’s point of view, especially the purchasing decision. In addition, merchants need to ensure they offer exceptional customer service for online shoppers, or else risk seeing declines in consumer satisfaction and retention.