Posted by Jennifer Macqueen
The mobile-friendly evolution isn’t a new concept. It has been politely hovering in the wings waiting for someone to formally introduce it as the future of Web usage and the authority in search marketing. Now, thanks to this seismic step from Google, website owners will be flocking to the mobile congregation, so legal websites that do not deliver a good mobile experience will soon find themselves on the outside looking in.
After strongly encouraging webmasters over the last couple years to focus on mobile-friendly adoption, Google has announced that mobile-friendly and mobile-responsive websites will be rewarded with improved ranking in Google’s mobile search engine results, hence more traffic from a swiftly increasing user group. Likewise, websites that aren’t in the mobile-friendly gene pool will see less mobile traffic, receive a smaller share of the growing mobile booty, and will be forced to depend on a decreasing desktop centered audience. So if your site is not currently optimized for mobile devices, your page position will likely suffer.
According to the announcement from Google’s Webmaster Central blog:
“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”
To find out if your law firm’s website is mobile-friendly, you can use Google’s mobile-friendly test. Just click on the link, enter your website URL and the assessment will be performed immediately.
If your website comes up as not mobile-friendly, now is the time to commit to that site renovation that has been at the bottom of your priority list. The law firm websites that have not been converted by the deadline will see a decline in search results beginning April 21.
Even if your site is mobile-ready, it’s important to your legal content marketing strategy to perform a mobile Search Engine Optimization (SEO) audit so Google can accurately recognize and help your mobile content.
While the incentive for change is the ability to compete for mobile traffic, there are many benefits to reinventing a website geared toward the mobile audience, including improved user experience, longer time spent on site and greater conversion rates. Law Firms and legal marketing strategists may be pleasantly surprised to find that the cost to migrate to mobile is regained by the mobile audience that searches, connects and ultimately retains those legal services.
This is a rare opportunity for law firms throughout Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond and the Pacific Northwest to become legal industry leaders of the mobile future. Firm Evolution is Seattle’s premier legal marketing firm, and we know how to create effective, mobile-friendly websites, specifically for law firms, complete with an easy-to-use content management system. If you’d like to dramatically improve your website’s performance and achieve an impressive ROI, please contact us to schedule a free consultation. Call 206.321.3220 or contact us online to get in touch.