Switching marketing agencies without losing your rankings or ad account
Changing agency should be an administrative task. Too often it becomes a crisis: a website that goes dark, a Google Ads account that disappears with its history, a Business Profile nobody can log into. Almost all of this is avoidable if you secure the right things in the right order before you give notice. This guide is that order.
Why switching goes wrong
The problem is almost never malice. It is that during the original setup nobody asked who would own what, and the agency did the convenient thing: registered the domain under its own account, built the site on its platform, created the ad account under its manager login, claimed the Business Profile from a staff email.
Months later, you want to leave. Now every one of those shortcuts is a lever the agency holds, even if it has no wish to pull it. Staff have left, passwords are lost, and the goodwill you need is from the firm you are leaving. The time to fix this is before you give notice, not after.
Step one: audit what you actually own
Before any conversation with either agency, work through this list and find out, for each item, whose name is on the account and whether you can log in yourself today.
- Domain name: registrar, account holder, renewal date
- Website hosting: provider, account holder, whether files can be exported
- Website content and images: who holds the originals
- Google Business Profile: which Google account is the primary owner
- Google Ads account: who owns it, who has admin access
- Meta Business Manager and ad accounts: who is admin
- Google Analytics and Search Console: who is the property owner
- Call tracking numbers, review software, CRM: whose contract and whose data
Step two: take ownership before you give notice
Anything on that list not already in your name should be transferred while the relationship is still good. Frame it as housekeeping, which is what it is. 'I'd like to make sure all our accounts are under our own logins, can you add me as owner on each?' Most agencies will do this without fuss.
For the domain, you want to be the registrant and have the registrar login. For Google Business Profile, your own Google account should be primary owner with the agency as manager. For Google Ads, the account should belong to you with the agency linked through its manager account; if it was created under the agency, ask for it to be transferred or, failing that, for a full export of campaigns and conversion data. For Meta, you should be admin of the Business Manager and the ad account should sit inside it.
If an agency resists any of this, you have learned something important, and you have learned it while the agency still wants to keep you. The red flags guide covers what that resistance tends to look like.
Step three: protect the website and its rankings
The website is where rankings live, and rankings are the thing most tradespeople fear losing. The risk comes in three forms: the site is taken offline, the site is moved and URLs change, or the site is rebuilt and the content that ranked is thrown away.
If you own the site and hosting, none of this needs to happen. The new agency takes over the hosting login and improves what is there. If the site is on the old agency's platform, you need a copy of every page's content and images, and a list of every URL that gets traffic, before notice is given. Google Search Console will show you which pages matter.
When a rebuild is unavoidable, insist that the new agency maps every old URL to its equivalent on the new site with permanent redirects, keeps page titles and headings close to what ranked, and launches the whole site at once rather than page by page. Done properly, rankings dip for a few weeks and recover. Done carelessly, years of work vanish. Our page-by-page website guide describes what the new build should contain.
Step four: protect the ad accounts and their history
A Google Ads account with two years of data knows which searches bring you jobs and which waste money. A new account knows nothing and will spend weeks relearning at your expense. That history is worth real money, which is why account ownership matters so much.
If the account is yours, the switch is simple: unlink the old agency's manager account and link the new one. If it is not and cannot be transferred, get exports of search terms, conversion data and campaign structures so the new agency can rebuild from knowledge rather than from scratch. The same applies to Meta: pixel data and audiences live in the Business Manager, and if that is the agency's, you leave them behind.
Tracking numbers deserve a mention. If your call tracking number is on the agency's contract, it may stop working when you leave, and it may be printed on your van. Either transfer the number or make sure it was never used anywhere permanent.
Step five: sequence the handover
With ownership secured, the order that avoids gaps is this. Appoint the new agency and give it read-only access to everything so it can plan. Agree a go-live date for its work. Give the old agency notice timed so its contract ends a couple of weeks after the new agency is live, not before. Hand admin access to the new agency on go-live day. Remove the old agency's access on the day its contract ends.
The overlap costs you a fortnight of double fees. It is cheaper than a fortnight with no site, no ads and no one responsible for either.
| Asset | Who should own it | What to get before notice |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | You, as registrant | Registrar login, renewal date |
| Website and hosting | You, or export rights in writing | Full site backup, URL list from Search Console |
| Google Business Profile | Your Google account as primary owner | Ownership transfer completed |
| Google Ads | Your account, agency linked as manager | Transfer, or exports of search terms and conversions |
| Meta Business Manager | You as admin | Admin role, pixel in your Business Manager |
| Analytics and Search Console | You as property owner | Owner access |
| Call tracking and CRM | Your contract | Number transfer, data export |
What to ask the new agency before you commit
A good new agency will ask for the audit in step one before it quotes, because it needs to know what it is inheriting. It should commit in writing to building everything in accounts you own, to redirect mapping if a rebuild is proposed, and to a handover plan with dates.
It should also be realistic. If the old site ranks well, the right advice may be to keep it and improve it rather than rebuild, even if a rebuild is a bigger invoice. The questions in our agency interview guide cover ownership directly, and the criteria behind our rankings weight it heavily for exactly the reasons this guide describes.
Never again: clauses for the next contract
Whatever you sign next, it should state that you own the domain, website files, content, all advertising and analytics accounts and all data in them; that the agency's access is as a manager or admin you can revoke; that on termination the agency will provide full exports within a stated number of days; and that notice is 30 days.
A fixed-fee agency building on your own domain and in your own accounts makes most of this automatic. Several in our ranking of trades agencies work this way as standard, which is one reason they rank where they do.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my Google rankings if I change agency?
Not if you own the website and keep it live. Rankings are at risk only when a site goes offline, moves without redirects or is rebuilt with the ranking content discarded.
Can an agency keep my Google Ads account when I leave?
If the account was created under the agency's ownership, it can. That is why the account should be in your name with the agency linked as a manager. If it is not, ask for a transfer or full data exports before giving notice.
How much overlap should there be between old and new agency?
Around two weeks, with the new agency live before the old contract ends. The double fee is cheaper than a gap.
What if the old agency refuses to hand things over?
Document every request in writing, check your contract for ownership and termination terms, and for the domain and Business Profile use the registrar's and Google's own dispute processes. Prevention, by securing ownership before notice, is far easier.