WebProNews

We're certain our search marketing readers have already planned out how they plan to approach the iPhone. A couple of industry pros touched on the topic once the iPhone sales mania settled down a little. If you are looking for iPhone love in your web analytics program, be sure to think small.

That's the advice from Michael Jensen of SoloSEO. He has been poring over his analytics reports to see how to tell when an iPhone has stopped by for a virtual visit.

From initial Google Analytics data from my iPhone app, it looks like the only way to distinguish the iPhone from other Macs is through the screen resolution, which is 320 x 396. You would think there would be some further distinguishing, but not so far. I looked at the browsers, OS, hostnames, and network locations but could not distinguish the group of iPhone visitors through any of those.

Those arriving from their iPhone will expect a quality experience from the destination website. They aren't going to wait around for hours like some people did to purchase an iPhone as soon as possible on its launch day.

Andrey Milyan at Search Marketing Standard sees the Safari browser on the iPhone as being the driver for greater mobile web usage by iPhone owners:

iPhone’s browser has created a lot of hype because it can open full versions of web pages, just like you would see them on your desktop/laptop. Due to the small screen, users are able to zoom in only on one area of the website at a time. Although Flash and Java are not supported, visitors using the iPhone will be able to take advantage of more features on your website than ever before. Some aspects of your overall design will probably have to be rethought.

"The way I see it, separate CSS will probably have to be used with iPhone, despite the fact that it can open regular version of the web pages," Milyan told WebProNews. He cited the New York Times, with its multiple columns and blocks of text, as an example of what works well with the Safari browser in iPhone.

If the iPhone proves appealing past the initial love-phase, expect other manufacturers to follow suit and build similar devices. That in turns means site publishers will have to consider a future where mobile browsing becomes more of a norm than an exception.