The “Mobile-Ocalyspe” is almost a distant memory in the digital marketing community, having hit its peak sometime maybe 7 years ago when SEO experts were confident that Google was going to implicitly separate search results for mobile and desktop searches based on how mobile-ready and desktop-ready your website was. The differences ended up being marginal, even with websites that were often on mobile far off from what could be considered mobile-friendly or responsive. That doesn’t mean that the user experience still suffered tremendously, resulting in poorly mobile-optimized websites not being able to convert regardless of how much traffic they got.

It’s pretty easy to get close to optimal responsiveness today with the changes to web development best practices, innate capabilities of popular CMS platforms like WordPress, and additional plugins that further create a great mobile user experience. With all the work being done to be mobile-first, it’s important to confirm that’s still where people are going to be searching the most.  There’s no logical reason to think that people wouldn’t continue to do so, but it’s important to look at the rate at which they do, the devices that are being used, and the consideration to the evolution of the dimensions these devices are actually in since our definition of “mobile” may be evolving much quicker than the concept of the device designation.

To start, let’s check to see if mobile search has continued its explosive trend as a search method from 2018 to 2019 (and sometimes 2018 compared to 2017) like it did when it took off (in our clients’ industries) in around 2014-2015.  We are looking at a handful of our clients’ analytics in different regions/practice areas:

 

Criminal Defense South Florida
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 49.01% 44.54% 6.46%
2018 59.46% 36.06% 4.49%
change 21.32% -19.04% -30.50%
2019 54.43% 41.34% 4.13%
change -8.46% 14.64% -8.02%

 

Criminal Defense South Florida
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 49.01% 44.54% 6.46%
2018 59.46% 36.06% 4.49%
change 21.32% -19.04% -30.50%
2019 54.43% 41.34% 4.13%
change -8.46% 14.64% -8.02%

 

Criminal Defense Louisiana
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 55.21% 44.35% 3.43%
2018 59.37% 37.24% 3.39%
change 7.53% -16.03% -1.17%
2019 60.60% 36.54% 2.86%
change 2.07% -1.88% -15.63%

 

Arizona Personal Injury
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 19.31% 77.87% 2.82%
2018 26.01% 71.69% 2.29%
change 34.70% -7.94% -18.79%
2019 35.59% 62.32% 2.08%
change 36.83% -13.07% -9.17%

 

Criminal Defense Central Florida
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 66.89% 28.72% 4.40%
2018 68.95% 27.17% 3.88%
change 3.08% -5.40% -11.82%
2019 68.88% 28.05% 3.06%
change -0.10% 3.24% -21.13%

 

Portland Personal Injury
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 42.41% 52.50% 5.29%
2018 61.73% 34.29% 4.34%
change 45.56% -34.69% -17.96%
2019 68.60% 26.03% 5.37%
change 11.13% -24.09% 23.73%

 

Bankruptcy Louisiana
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 66.26% 26.95% 6.79%
2018 66.34% 26.37% 7.29%
change 0.12% -2.15% 7.36%
2019 62.96% 32.64% 4.40%
change -5.09% 21.11% -39.64%

 

Estate Planning Wisconsin
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2018 36.19% 59.71% 4.10%
change
2019 41.34% 54.43% 4.13%
change 14.23% -8.84% 0.73%

 

Personal Injury North Jersey
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 26.90% 69.60% 3.51%
2018 33.92% 62.28% 3.80%
change 26.10% -10.52% 8.26%
2019 38.13% 59.48% 2.39%
change 12.41% -4.50% -37.11%

 

Personal Injury South Florida
Mobile Desktop Tablet
2017 29.58% 66.28% 4.13%
2018 32.86% 63.30% 3.84%
change 11.09% -4.50% -7.02%
2019 42.07% 54.81% 3.11%
change 28.03% -13.41% -19.01%

Do People Still Search on Tablets?

Keep in mind this isn’t including their increase in actual traffic – just the difference in how the visits to their website were comprised. From these general stats (it is a small sample) we do see the numbers coming in from mobile starting to slow down, more so that they are already at a dominant percentage (oftentimes almost as high as 70%). The bigger takeaway initially is the fact that tablet usage as a device for search is really slowing down. I’ve personally seen it turn more into a diminutive streaming device in most public and professional settings.

We know that mobile device screens are incrementally getting larger – even if we aren’t waiting around the block for a new device on drop day, we are inundated with advertising that continuously touts larger screens and in turn, bigger dimensions. Let’s review the “square pixelage” for lack of better terminology, for a few law firms, going back several years, for the top 3 resolutions:

Firm 1

January 2019 – January 2020

375 X 667 = 250,125
414 X 896 = 370,944
414 X 736 = 304,704

Total = 925,773
Change: 17.9%

January 2018– January 2019

375 X 667 = 250,125
360 X 640 = 230,400
414 X 736 = 304,704

Total = 785,229
Change: 0%

January 2017 – January 2018

360 X 640 = 230,400
375 X 667 = 250,125
414 X 736 = 304,704

Total = 785,229

Firm 2

January 2019 – January 2020

375 X 667 = 250,125
360 X 640 = 230,400
414 X 736 = 304,704

Total = 785,229
Change: 18.6%

January 2018– January 2019

320 X 568 = 181,760
360 X 640 = 230,400
375 X 667 = 250,125

Total = 662,285
Change: -0.4%

January 2017 – January 2018

375 X 667 = 250,125
360 X 640 = 230,400
360 X 512 = 184,320

Total = 664,845

Firm 3

January 2019 – January 2020

375 X 667 = 250,125
360 X 640 = 230,400
414 X 736 = 304,704

Total = 785,229
Change: 0% (but the top 2 switched places as far as % used and the 375 X 667 is a larger device than 360 X 640)

January 2018– January 2019

360 X 640 = 230,400
375 X 667 = 250,125
414 X 736 = 304,704

Total = 785,229
Change: 31.5%

January 2017 – January 2018

360 X 640 = 230,400
360 X 512 = 184,320
320 X 570 = 182,400

Total = 597,120

Conclusion

The bottom line – screen sizes are expanding. The message now isn’t that search is moving to mobile; it has been there for years already. We should be evaluating if our mobile-readiness and responsiveness are accommodating the rise of bigger mobile device resolutions.

Whether your clients are finding you on an iPad Mini or the latest “phablet” (think phones with a 6″ or larger display), your site needs content that’ll get them to read and ultimately choose your firm for their legal or other business needs. Contact our legal marketing experts today for a free marketing consultation and find out how we can help you develop a captivating content strategy that will attract more traffic and leads.