The steady growth of smartphone and tablet use by prospective clients is reason enough for lawyers to make their websites mobile friendly. But next week, Google will add one more reason: higher search rankings for mobile-optimized sites.

"Put simply, Google will be taking into account whether your pages are mobile-friendly or not when it ranks your pages in search results," writes Gyi Tsakalakis in Lawyerist. "While this update is unlikely to make your pages vanish from search engine results entirely, every optimization helps in a competitive landscape."

Google will start using the new ranking signal April 21. Read Tsakalakis's blog post to find out more.