Web marketers have been preaching mobile-friendliness for years. Now, Google says all the hype has been worth it.

In a recent post on Google’s Webmaster Central Blog, the company announced, “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.” Noteworthy openness for a tech company marked by its penchant for keeping online marketers on their toes.

To put it bluntly, time is running out for firms who have delayed the move to mobile. April 21st will mark a change in the game for many law firms. If your site is not mobile-friendly by the launch of this new ranking signal, your site will appear lower in the search results..

Is My Legal Website Mobile-Friendly?

The most accurate way to determine if your website is mobile-friendly is by running your site through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. We’ll use one of our client’s sites, SalviLaw.com, as an example.

Visit https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/, type your site’s URL into the search bar and click ‘Analyze’.

Within seconds, the tool will let you know whether or not your site is compatible with mobile devices.

A second way you can rest assured your site is mobile-friendly is if you know your site is responsive. Responsive design means “that websites and online applications should scale appropriately and work the same way, as well as be aesthetically pleasing, no matter which screen the site is viewed on.”

Another of our clients, LYSLaw.com, has a beautiful responsive design in place.

What Should I Do If My Site Isn’t Mobile-Friendly?

Preceding this announcement, Google had already rolled out a feature to mark Mobile-friendly sites with that designation on the search results page.

The writing was on the wall, as it were.

A Search Engine Watch article warns, “Go Mobile or Become Irrelevant.” If your law firm’s website is not mobile-friendly, be prepared to rank lower.

Of course, you don’t have to simply sit on the sidelines and watch your hard work go down the drain. The time to act is NOW.

If you have concerns about the mobile-friendliness of your law firm site, you first move should be to talk directly with your Web provider. If your site is not currently mobile-friendly, they should have a solid plan of action that will result in you having a mobile-friendly site by the April 21st deadline. If your Web provider does not have a solution in place, then it probably goes without saying - but you should consider hiring a new vendor as soon as possible.

The window of time is almost closed.