It happens more often than you would think. An owner decides to switch web companies and finds out the old company registered the domain in its own name, owns the Google Ads account, or will not hand over the site. In October 2026 one owner on Reddit described a $3,000-a-month "ads" contract where about half went to actual ads, the site was the same template as another business in the same city, and canceling was a fight. Here is how to make sure that is never you.
1. Your domain
Your domain (yourbusiness.com) is the address everything points to: your site, your email, your Google profile. It should be registered in your business name, with you able to log in. Look it up on ICANN's free lookup. If the registrant is your web company, ask them to transfer it to you. A web company can be a technical contact; it should not be the owner.
2. Your Google Business Profile
You should be the primary owner of your Google Business Profile. Your marketing help can be added as a manager. If someone else is the owner, ask to be made primary owner. Losing access to your profile means losing your reviews history and your spot on the map.
3. Your Google Ads and Local Services Ads accounts
The ads account should be in your name and on your card, with the agency added as a user. If the agency owns the account, the history and everything it learned leave with them. Ask what share of your monthly fee goes to Google and what goes to the agency; a common rule of thumb on owner forums is a management fee of roughly 10 to 20 percent of ad spend.
4. Your website files
If you paid for the site up front, you should be able to get a copy of it. Ask now, while things are friendly: "If we part ways, what do I get, and how?" Get the answer in writing. Pausing services when bills are unpaid is normal; holding a paid-for site or domain hostage is not.
5. Your logins
Keep one list of every login that runs your business online: domain, website, Google profile, ads, social accounts, booking software, email. Use your own email address on each, not your web company's.
If you are stuck right now
- Ask in writing for the domain transfer code, ownership of your Google profile and ads account, and a copy of your site.
- Check your contract for the cancellation terms before you threaten anything.
- If they refuse to transfer a domain you paid for, the domain registrar has a dispute process.
How we handle it: your domain and your Google accounts are yours, and if you ever leave, you keep the domain and get the site files for free. More in our guide to what a website should cost.