Insights · Working with an agency · September 2026
What your SEO agency should hand back when you leave
The contract ends in 30 days. A new agency, or your own hire, starts after that. On the last day you need everything that lets them carry on without starting over, and the accounts, files and rights you paid for need to be yours.
Plan for three things: accounts you own and can clean up, the work itself in usable form, and the records that show what was done. Put the handover list and a written transfer of rights in the contract when you sign, not when you leave. This guide isn't legal advice, so have your lawyer check the ownership clause.
Accounts: you should already own them
If the setup was right from the start, the handover for accounts is mostly removing people. Check that someone on your payroll holds the top role in each tool. In Search Console, "a property must have at least one verified owner, or no users will have access to the property." Search Console Help. If an agency employee verified the property, remove their verification as well as their user entry. The same help page explains how.
In Google Analytics, "to add or modify users or user groups, you need to have the Administrator role at the account or property level." Google Analytics Help. If nobody on your team has that role, you can't remove the agency, so fix that before anything else.
Then list every tool the agency set up for your site: rank trackers, AI answer tracking, heatmaps, form tools. Anything registered to the agency's account may disappear with the agency. Export the data first, or ask for the account to be transferred.
Read the visual as text
- Accounts: a verified owner in Search Console on your payroll; an Administrator in Google Analytics on your team; agency users removed, including any Search Console verification; tools registered to the agency exported or transferred.
- The work: every article, published or draft, in its final approved version; editable media source files with licenses; briefs and the map of buyer questions to pages; a log of technical changes, redirects and structured data.
- Records and rights: links and mentions with URL, live date, target page, paid or earned; reports with the underlying data exported; the baseline and any saved AI answers with dates; a written assignment of rights in delivered work.
- Put it in the contract at the start: on termination the provider delivers the list within an agreed number of days, removes its users and assigns the rights in delivered work. In the US and the UK, ownership of commissioned work is not automatic without a written agreement.
The work: in a form someone else can use
You paid for the articles, and also for the thinking and assets behind them. Ask for:
- Every article, published or in draft, with the final approved version.
- Media source files, such as editable diagrams, not just the images on the page, with the license for any stock or third-party asset.
- The briefs and the map of buyer questions to pages, showing what's done, in progress and planned.
- A log of technical changes: what changed, where, when and why, including redirects and structured data.
- Any templates, checklists or style rules written for your account.
The question map and the change log matter most. Without them, the next team spends its first month rediscovering what was done and why.
The records: what was done, with evidence
Ask for the evidence behind what you were charged for:
- Links and brand mentions: the URL, the date it went live, the target page and whether it was paid or earned.
- Reports, with the underlying data exported, not just slides.
- The baseline taken at the start, and any saved AI answers, with dates and modes.
The agency's own outreach contacts are usually its business, not yours. The list of placements it secured for you is yours.
Who owns the content
Who owns an article depends on the law and on your contract, and many companies assume they own work they don't.
In the US, commissioned work is only a "work made for hire" in limited cases. The work must fall within specific categories, and there must be a written agreement that expressly says so, which "must be signed by all parties." US Copyright Office, Circular 30. Otherwise, ownership has to be transferred, and a transfer "generally must be made in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed." US Copyright Office, Circular 1.
In the UK, when you commission a work, "the first legal owner of copyright is the person or organisation that created the work and not you the commissioner, unless you otherwise agree it in writing." GOV.UK.
So in both countries, the safe position is a written clause that assigns the copyright in delivered work to you once it's paid for, including drafts and media created for you. Check that stock-image licenses can transfer too.
A fictional example
A SaaS company ends its contract on good terms, but it never asked for a handover. The last agency employee who verified Search Console has left, and nobody else is an owner. The articles live in the CMS, but the diagrams exist only as flattened images, and the question map sat in the agency's project tool. The new team rebuilds all three, which takes most of its first month.
The same company with a handover clause gets a folder on the last day: the question map, the change log, editable media, a placements list and the exported reports. The new team starts on the next topic in week one.
Put it in the contract at the start
Add one clause to any SEO agreement: on termination, the provider delivers the handover list within a set number of days, removes its users, and assigns the rights in delivered work. It costs nothing to agree while everyone is getting along. The access and inputs your SEO agency needs covers how to set up the accounts so the exit is simple. How to choose a B2B SEO agency covers the other contract terms worth checking.
FAQ
Who owns the content an SEO agency creates?
It depends on the law and your contract. In the US, commissioned work is only a work made for hire in limited cases with a signed written agreement; otherwise ownership has to be transferred in writing. In the UK, the creator is the first owner unless you agree otherwise in writing. Ask for a written assignment of rights in delivered work.
What should an SEO agency hand over when the contract ends?
The articles and drafts, editable media with licenses, briefs and the map of buyer questions to pages, a log of technical changes, a list of links and mentions with URLs and dates, and reports with the underlying data exported.
How do I remove an SEO agency's access to Google Search Console and Analytics?
Make sure someone on your team is a verified owner in Search Console and an Administrator in Google Analytics, then remove the agency's users. If an agency employee verified the Search Console property, remove their verification too.