You should own all three: the Google Ads account, the domain and website, and the analytics. Here is how to check each one today, and the four lines to put in the agreement before you sign.
Three things get held hostage when an agency relationship ends: the Google Ads account, the domain and website, and the data. Here is how to check each one today, in the order of how expensive it is to lose, and what to insist on before you sign anything.
1. The ad accountThe Google Ads account is the expensive one
There are two ways an agency can run your ads.
The right way. You own the Google Ads account. It is in your name, with your billing on it. The agency is linked to it through their manager account, which gives them access to work in it. When the relationship ends, you remove their access. Everything stays: the spend history, the conversion data, the keyword performance, the audiences, the learning the bidding has done on your account.
The other way. The agency creates the account inside their own manager account. You never had it. When you leave, it stays with them, and you start again from an empty account.
That restart is not just inconvenient. Google's bidding runs on accumulated conversion data, so a new account goes back into a learning period, and your cost per lead can get worse for weeks before it gets better. You also lose the record of every negative keyword somebody paid to learn.
How to check, right now
Sign in to Google Ads with your own email. If you cannot sign in without the agency, or you have never had a login of your own, you probably do not own it.
If you can sign in, Google's own instructions are to go to Access and security within the Admin menu. You should see yourself with Admin access (Google names five levels: Email-only, Billing, Read-only, Standard and Admin). On the Managers sub-page you should see the agency listed as a manager account with a Remove access action beside it. That action is the whole point: if it is there, and your own login keeps Admin access, the account is yours and they are a guest in it. Google's ownership page lists removing users and revoking administrative access among an owner manager's powers, which is why the ownership question next matters.
One more word Google uses: ownership. A manager account can be made the owner of a client account by someone with administrative access to that account, and Google says a manager that creates a new account "will automatically become the owner of that account", which is the second case above. A client account can only have one owner. Google also says owners "do not take data ownership or administrative rights away from client accounts", and that users of the client account cannot transfer ownership themselves "but can always unlink a manager with ownership". So if your agency is the owner manager, you cannot hand that ownership to someone else from your side, but you can remove them.
What to do if you do not own it
Ask for two things, in writing: administrative access for your own login, and then either their manager account unlinked or ownership transferred to a manager account you control (Google's page says the owner manager's own administrators can transfer ownership to another manager account, and that client users with administrative access cannot transfer it themselves but can unlink the manager; so the transfer has to come from their side, and the unlink from yours). If they refuse, you have learned something important, and you have learned it while you are still their client rather than on your way out.
2. The websiteThe website and the domain are two separate things
People conflate them. They are held in different places by different companies.
The domain is the address. It should be registered in an account you control, with your card on it, at a registrar you can log into. If your agency "handles the domain", find out whose name is on it. A domain held by an agency is the fastest way to have your business taken off the internet during a disagreement.
The website is the files. Ask three questions: where is it hosted, who has the login, and if we parted ways tomorrow would I still have a working site.
Be careful with proprietary platforms. Some agencies build on a system only they can edit, which is fine while you are happy and a rebuild from scratch when you are not. There is nothing wrong with a platform, as long as you know you are on one and priced it accordingly.
How to check, right now
Go to lookup.icann.org and type your domain. ICANN's lookup tool shows the registrar and, where the law allows, the registrant (personal details are often redacted). If the registrar is one you have no login for, or the registrant is your agency rather than your business, that is the thing to fix first.
3. The dataThe data and the tracking are the part nobody thinks about
Google Analytics should be a property inside an account your business owns, with the agency added as a user. Search Console should be verified to a domain you control. Conversion tracking should be set up in your own ad account rather than in a container the agency owns.
It is worth ten minutes to check. If your analytics history lives somewhere you cannot reach, then on the day you change agencies you also lose the ability to say whether anything ever worked.
Before you signFour lines to put in the agreement
Any reasonable agency will agree to all four.
- The client owns the Google Ads account. The agency is granted manager access, and that access is revocable at any time.
- The client owns the domain, registered in the client's own registrar account.
- The client owns the website files, and gets a working copy on request.
- The client owns the analytics and Search Console properties, with the agency granted access rather than ownership.
If an agency pushes back on any of these, ask which one and why. There is sometimes a practical reason. There is never a good reason to refuse all four.
How we do itEvery account we run is owned by the client
We link to your Google Ads account through our manager account, which is how we got access to it in the first place and how you remove us if you want to. Your ad accounts, your website, your creative and your CRM stay yours; that is our standing term. Keep the domain and the analytics property in accounts you own as well; the checks above show how.
We did not invent this; it is the second of the two cases on Google's own ownership page: a manager that links an existing account does not own it by default. The first case on that page is the one to watch for: when a manager creates a new account, Google says the manager automatically becomes its owner. The rest of what we would tell you before you sign with anyone is on our pricing page and in 20 things marketing agencies hide.
Sources, read 2 October 2026, Pacific time: Google Ads Help, Manage access to your Google Ads account; About access levels in your Google Ads account; Manager Accounts: Unlink accounts from your manager account; Manager accounts: About ownership of client accounts. ICANN, Registration Data Lookup Tool. Labels are quoted as the pages read on that date; Google changes them without notice, so check the live page before you click.
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Book a Strategy Call Get a free Growth CheckFAQMore questions people ask
Can my agency keep my Google Ads account when I leave?
Only if the account was created inside their manager account and was never yours. If the account is in your name and they are linked as a manager, you remove their access and everything stays with you: the spend history, the conversion data, the audiences and the learning. Check which case you are in before you need to know.
How do I check who owns my Google Ads account?
Sign in to Google Ads with your own email. If you cannot sign in without the agency, or you have never had a login of your own, you probably do not own it. If you can, open Access and security in the Admin menu: you should see yourself with admin access, and under the Managers sub-page the agency listed as a manager with a Remove access action beside it.
What does manager account ownership mean in Google Ads?
A client account can have one owner manager account at most. Google says owners have full administrative and data access but do not take data ownership or administrative rights away from the client account; that a manager which creates a new account automatically becomes its owner; and that users of the client account cannot transfer ownership themselves but can always unlink a manager with ownership. So if an agency owns your account in this sense, you can remove it, and only its own administrators can hand ownership on.
How do I find out who owns my domain name?
Type the domain into ICANN Lookup at lookup.icann.org. It shows the registrar and, where the law allows, the registrant. If the registrar account is not one you can log into, or the registrant is your agency rather than your business, that is the first thing to fix.
Who should own Google Analytics and Search Console?
Your business. Analytics should be a property inside an account you own, with the agency added as a user; Search Console should be verified to a domain you control; conversion tracking should live in your own ad account. If the history lives somewhere you cannot reach, you lose the ability to say whether anything ever worked on the day you change agencies.