Curated News
By: NewsRamp Editorial Staff
October 13, 2026
89% of Small Law Firm Websites Fail Google Mobile Speed Test
TLDR
- Constellate's study shows 89 percent of small law firm sites fail Google's mobile speed test, giving fast firms a clear edge.
- Constellate tested 80 law firm home pages with Google PageSpeed Insights, finding a median score of 60 and a median load time of 7.4 seconds.
- Constellate's research helps small law firms see slow mobile sites so they can serve clients better and make legal help easier to find.
- Constellate found 19 of 80 small law firm websites scored below 50 on Google's mobile test, which Google rates as poor.
Impact - Why it Matters
This news matters because mobile search is the primary way potential clients find legal services. A slow website directly costs firms clients, as users abandon pages that take more than a few seconds to load. With Google’s mobile-first indexing, poor PageSpeed scores can also hurt search rankings, making firms even less visible. As AI-driven search evolves, firms that monitor and optimize their performance will have a significant competitive advantage, while those that ignore these metrics risk losing business to faster, more responsive competitors. The study underscores the urgent need for law firms to prioritize website speed and data-driven marketing.
Summary
Constellate, a marketing research firm that works exclusively with law firms, released a study on October 13, 2026, revealing that the vast majority of small law firm websites are failing Google’s mobile performance standards. The study tested 80 firm websites in five fast-growing markets: McKinney, Texas; Castle Rock, Colorado; Naples, Florida; Carmel, Indiana; and Cary, North Carolina. The results show that 89% of sites scored below 90 on Google’s mobile PageSpeed test, the threshold Google considers good. A quarter of the sites scored below 50, which Google rates as poor, and the median score was just 60 out of 100, landing in the “needs improvement” range.
Speed is a critical issue: the median site took 7.4 seconds to display its main content, far exceeding Google’s 4-second benchmark for poor performance. In fact, 73% of sites crossed that line. Castle Rock had the lowest median score at 56, while Carmel led with a median of 74. Bruce Kreutzer, Partner and VP of Growth at Constellate, noted that most people search for a law firm on their phone and will call the next firm if a site takes too long to load. Chris Bardos, President of Constellate, added that the firm was built on the idea that law firm marketing should run on real data, and this study is the first in a series. For firms seeking to improve, Constellate offers services including websites, SEO, and generative engine optimization (GEO), and more information is available at constellate.com.
Source Statement
This curated news summary relied on content distributed by 24-7 Press Release. Read the original source here, 89% of Small Law Firm Websites Fail Google Mobile Speed Test
