Who Should Own Your Website, Domain and Google Business Profile?

By the Oski Marketing team · Updated 5 October 2026 · 6 min read

Your business should own its website, domain, Google Business Profile, ad accounts and analytics, using a Google login that belongs to the business, not to a person or an agency. Agencies and freelancers should get the lowest access they need to do the job, such as manager rather than owner, so you can remove them in minutes.

Why does ownership of your online accounts matter?

Ownership matters because whoever holds the top level of access decides what happens when a relationship ends. If an agency owns your Google Business Profile, it controls your reviews, photos and listing on Maps. If a designer is the registrant of your domain, your website address and email can stop working when they stop paying a renewal. These are often years of work, and rebuilding them from scratch is slow.

Most problems are not deliberate. A freelancer sets things up under their own login to save time, then moves on. The fix is simple to do on day one and much harder later.

What is the difference between owner and manager on Google Business Profile?

The owner controls who has access, and the manager does the work. Google's help page on roles explains that owners can add and remove users and delete the profile, while managers can edit most information and respond to reviews but cannot add or remove users or remove the profile. There is also a primary owner, and Google notes that a primary owner cannot remove themselves until they transfer that role to someone else.

So the right set-up is: your business account is the primary owner, a second trusted person in the business is an owner as a backup, and any agency is a manager. That gives the agency everything it needs for posts, photos, replies and edits, and leaves you in control.

Who should own the website and the domain?

Your business should be the registrant of the domain and the account holder for hosting, and your contract should give you the copyright in the site. These are three separate things:

• The domain (yourname.co.uk) is registered through a registrar. The registrant named on it is the legal holder. For .uk domains, Nominet's WHOIS and RDAP tools show the registrar and status, though the registrant's name only appears if they opted in to show it. The surest check is logging in to the registrar account yourself.
• The hosting is where the site files live. The account should be in your name, even if the agency pays and recharges you.
• The copyright in the design and content. GOV.UK explains that for commissioned work the creator is the first owner unless you agree otherwise in writing. See our guide to marketing agency contracts for the clause to ask for.

Who should own your Google Ads, Analytics and social accounts?

You should, with the agency added as a user. On Google Ads, the admin access level is the one that can give account access and change access levels, so at least one admin should be you. In Google Analytics, the Administrator role is needed to add, modify or delete users, so keep that role at account level for your business.

For Facebook and Instagram, the business portfolio should be created by someone in your business, with the agency added as a partner or user. Your pages and ad accounts then stay put if the agency changes.

How do you check who owns everything today?

You can check most of it in under an hour with your own logins. Work through this list and write down what you find:

1. Google Business Profile. Open your profile, go to the settings for people and access, and list every user and their role. Confirm your business account is the primary owner.
2. Domain. Log in to your registrar account. If you have no login, look up the domain to find the registrar, then contact them as the business.
3. Hosting. Find the hosting account and confirm the contact email is a business address you control.
4. Google Ads. Go to Admin, Access and security and list users and their access levels, plus any linked manager accounts.
5. Google Analytics and Search Console. Check that at least one business email has Administrator or owner access.
6. Meta business portfolio. Check who created it, who the admins are, and which partners have access.
7. Website login. Confirm you have your own admin login to the site, not a shared one.

If any item is owned by someone outside the business, add it to a short list and ask for it to be transferred while you are on good terms.

How do you get control back from an agency or old supplier?

Ask first, in writing, and give a clear list of what you need transferred. Most agencies will transfer ownership without fuss. If an agency holds your Google Business Profile and will not respond, Google lets you request ownership by searching for your business at business.google.com/add and choosing to request access. The current owner is emailed and has three days to respond. If they do not, you may be offered the option to claim the profile by verifying it.

For Google Ads, once you are an admin on the account, you can remove an agency's manager link under Admin, Access and security, Managers, as described in Google's help on unlinking manager accounts. For a domain, ask the registrar about changing the registrant. If something valuable is held back, take proper legal advice.

What access should an agency actually need?

An agency needs enough access to do the work, and no more. As a rule: manager on Google Business Profile, standard access on Google Ads (or a manager account link), editor on Analytics, a partner or user role on your Meta business portfolio, and a named user login on your website. At Oski Marketing we work this way with every client: the client owns the website, domain and profile, and we take manager access only. Whoever you work with, ask for the same. Our Google Business Profile checklist and our list of agency red flags are good next reads.

What to do this week

• Work through the seven-step ownership check above and write down who holds each account.
• Make your business account the primary owner of your Google Business Profile, and add a second owner from inside the business.
• Put the domain renewal date in your diary and check the renewal card is a business card.
• Ask any agency or freelancer to confirm in writing which of your accounts they hold, and at what level.