What should happen before terminating an SEO agency?
Before you end the contract, inventory every account the agency can open and confirm the business holds ownership or an administrator role that does not depend on that vendor.
Notice periods are a legal matter. Operationally, a handover that starts after the agency is already locked out often strands DNS, the listing, or conversion tracking. Choosing the next provider is a separate decision covered in how to choose a Local SEO agency. Preventative ownership so you are not in this position again is covered in whether an agency should own your Business Profile, Analytics and Search Console.
Who owns the website?
Access is not ownership. Check the domain registrar, hosting, CMS, source repository, DNS and email accounts as separate assets.
A contractor who can publish in WordPress may not be the registrant at the registrar. A site on the agency’s hosting plan may go offline when the retainer ends. Repositories on a personal GitHub account, DNS on an agency Cloudflare login, and mailboxes that receive form leads are common gaps. Transfer or copy each one while both parties can still log in.
Who owns the Google Business Profile?
The business should be primary owner. Managers can help operate the listing; they cannot complete every ownership action.
Google currently distinguishes owners and managers, and only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership. New owners and managers must wait seven days before they can manage all features, including removing other users. If the agency is primary owner, add a company-controlled Google Account as owner and complete the primary-owner transfer before you remove them. If you have already lost access, that is recovery, not a handover — see what to do if you lost access to a Google Business Profile. Source: Transfer primary ownership of a Business Profile.
Who owns Search Console?
A verified owner proved control with a token. A delegated owner or user was granted access inside Search Console and can be removed from the users list without removing a file from the site.
Google currently says a property must have at least one verified owner or no users will have access. Verified owners are added or removed by adding or removing their token. Delegated owners are added or removed in Users and permissions. If the agency verified via HTML file, meta tag, DNS, Google Analytics or Tag Manager, you must remove those tokens to stop them reclaiming ownership. Keep a company account as verified owner before you unverify the vendor. Source: Managing owners, users, and permissions.
Who controls GA4?
GA4 access lives on a Google account. If that account is the agency’s, you can lose history and admin when the relationship ends.
Add a company-controlled administrator, confirm data-retention settings, and export any custom reports you cannot recreate. Google Analytics is not required for a Business Profile, but losing it blinds the next engagement. Measurement context is in how to measure Local SEO and Local SEO reporting.
Who controls Google Tag Manager?
Tag Manager should be administered from inside the organisation, with the agency granted container permissions rather than owning the only admin login.
Google’s Tag Manager help currently recommends configuring multiple administrators and actual user accounts instead of shared logins, and making sure Google accounts are managed by someone within your organisation, not an outside agency or consultant. If the agency’s GTM account is how Search Console was verified, removing their Publish or Admin permission — or switching containers — is part of cutting that verification path. Sources: Managing users and permissions and Managing owners, users, and permissions.
What data should be exported?
Export anything you paid for that will not automatically remain in an account you control.
- SEO reports and monthly decks
- Keyword and geo-grid baselines, including scan settings
- Audit records and screenshots
- Redirect maps and canonical notes
- Content briefs and published URL lists
- Change logs for title, GBP and tracking edits
- Dashboard links and how to rebuild them
Rank-tracking seats often sit on the agency’s subscription. Export CSV history if the tool allows it. Do not assume the next provider can see last year’s grid.
Should the old agency be removed immediately?
Only after critical access and knowledge are safely transferred.
Immediate removal feels decisive. It is how DNS, Tag Manager and the Business Profile get stuck on a vendor who no longer answers. Sequence: inventory, verify ownership, add the new team, transfer files, validate tracking, then remove former users — including after Google’s seven-day Business Profile limitation if a new owner was just added.
What technical documentation should be requested?
Request the working notes that let another practitioner continue without reverse-engineering the site.
- CMS and plugin list, staging URL, who can deploy
- robots.txt, sitemap locations, known noindex rules
- Redirect rules and why they exist
- GBP users, categories, service areas and landing-page URLs
- Call-tracking numbers versus the numbers published on Maps
- Conversion events in GA4 and which GTM container fires them
Otepsphere’s public process is discovery, baseline, audit and implementation, not a ranking promise. See how the Local SEO process works.
Should SEO changes pause during the handover?
There is no universal rule. Avoid stacking unnecessary website, tracking and profile changes on the same week as the access transfer.
Google’s site-move guidance is to change one major thing at a time where possible, because simultaneous changes make diagnosis harder. A handover is not a site move, but the same caution applies: if titles, redirects and GTM all change while users are being swapped, you will not know what broke. Source: How to move a site.
Agency handover checklist
1
Inventory List domain, hosting, CMS, GBP, Search Console, GA4, GTM, tracking and citations.2
Verify ownership Confirm the business controls registrar, primary GBP owner and verified Search Console owner.3
Add new team Grant role-based access while the previous provider can still open the accounts.4
Transfer documentation Export reports, redirect maps, change logs and dashboards the business paid for.5
Validate tracking Confirm tags, conversions and forms still fire after access changes.6–7
Remove old access, then baseline Revoke former users last. Record current visibility before new SEO work starts.
- Company-controlled accounts are primary GBP owner and verified Search Console owner.
- Registrar, hosting, CMS, DNS and email do not depend on the outgoing vendor.
- GA4 and GTM have organisation administrators.
- Reports, redirect maps and baselines are exported.
- New team access is tested while the old team can still help.
- Former users are removed last, including unused Search Console tokens.
What not to assume
Do not assume a manager on GBP is an owner. Do not assume Search Console “Owner” without “Verified” is enough after the vendor leaves. Do not assume shared passwords are a handover method. Do not assume rankings will drop solely because the agency name changed.
What not to do
Practical action plan
- Fill an inventory spreadsheet from the list above while the agency still answers.
- Place company accounts in owner/admin roles.
- Add the incoming practitioner with the minimum roles they need.
- Export files and confirm tracking with a test conversion.
- Remove former users and leftover verification tokens.
- Record a visibility and lead baseline before new SEO work begins.
When professional help makes sense
Help is useful when the agency built the site on their platform, holds primary GBP ownership, or verified Search Console only through their Tag Manager. Nobody can recover an account the previous vendor uniquely controlled if they refuse to cooperate and no token remains.
Sources and further reading
- Google Business Profile Help: Transfer primary ownership of a Business Profile
- Search Console Help: Managing owners, users, and permissions
- Tag Manager Help: Managing users and permissions
- Google Search Central: How to move a site
Changing Local SEO providers?
Otepsphere can review the handover, establish a fresh baseline and identify missing account access or documentation before new SEO work begins.
Contact OtepsphereWho writes this
This page is published by Otepsphere, a specialist Local SEO consultancy. A named founder biography, photograph and professional profiles will be added here only when they have been verified. Until then, treat Otepsphere as the responsible organisation rather than a fictional expert.