Ownership audit
Twelve things your firm should own outright.
Most firms discover what they don't control at the worst possible moment — the week they try to leave. This is the list, what to check on each, and what it costs you if the answer turns out to be your vendor.
Answer what you know. Your results appear as you go, no email required, and nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to send it.
Who owns the data your marketing generates?
Ask this of the contract, not of your account manager. It decides whether anything else on this page is recoverable.
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critical
Domain name
How to verifyWHOIS registrant, plus who holds the registrar login
If you don't control itRegistrant of record decides this one. If the firm is the registrant, you can recover the account through the registrar even without the login. If the vendor registered it in their own name, transfer is theirs to grant — and may carry a fee.
What you can doCheck the registrant on WHOIS before anything else. It decides whether this is a recovery or a negotiation, and everything below depends on it.
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critical
DNS / nameservers
How to verifyWho controls the DNS zone, not just the registration
If you don't control itOwning the domain but not the zone still means someone else controls where it resolves.
What you can doOnce the registrar account is yours, repoint the nameservers yourself. No cooperation needed.
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critical
Email hosting
How to verifyWhether firm email runs through the same account
If you don't control itBundled email turns a website dispute into an outage.
What you can doWith DNS under your control you can move mail by changing MX records. Existing mailbox contents on their server are a separate ask.
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critical
Website files
How to verifyWhether an export exists, and whether the CMS is proprietary
If you don't control itOn a proprietary platform there is often nothing to export — the design and templates may not be yours to take.
What you can doAsk for a full export in writing before you give notice. If the answer is no, budget for a rebuild rather than a migration.
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high
Content and copy
How to verifyContract language: work-for-hire vs. licensed
If you don't control itCustom blog posts are often yours; practice-area and home page copy often is not. The contract decides, and contracts differ.
What you can doFind the work-for-hire or licence clause. Copy you do not own is the cheapest thing on this list to replace.
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critical
Google Business Profile
How to verifyWho holds primary owner, not manager
If you don't control itA manager can be removed by the owner. Whoever holds primary ownership holds your local search presence.
What you can doYou can request ownership through Google without the vendor's help. They have three days to respond, and if they do not, you may be able to claim it directly. Not instant and not guaranteed — but it is yours to pursue.
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critical
Reviews
How to verifyAttached to the profile above
If you don't control itReviews attach to the profile, not to you — so they follow whoever holds it.
What you can doRecover the profile and the reviews come with it. They are not lost. They also cannot be moved anywhere else, which is why the profile matters more than any other single item here.
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critical
Tracking phone numbers
How to verifyWhose call-tracking account the numbers live in
If you don't control itLeaving can break every number on your site, your profile, your citations and your old ads at once.
What you can doNumbers can be ported, but that right belongs to the account holder of record. If that is the vendor rather than you, porting needs their release. Establish who holds the account before you give notice.
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high
Google Ads account
How to verifyWhether you hold an Admin user on the account itself, not just a seat in their manager account
If you don't control itA manager account can hold ownership without taking data or administrative rights away from the account itself. What matters is whether you have admin access to the account — not who manages it.
What you can doWith admin access you can unlink the manager yourself, and the account keeps its full campaign history. One trap: if they are the paying manager on monthly invoicing, the account stops serving the moment you unlink. Put your own billing in place first, then unlink.
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high
Analytics and Search Console
How to verifyAdmin-level access in the firm's own Google account
If you don't control itWithout history there is no baseline to prove a migration went well or badly.
What you can doYou can verify Search Console yourself today through DNS. Historical data inside their Analytics property cannot be handed back retroactively — export what you can now, and start your own property immediately.
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critical
Lead flow
How to verifyWhere the contact form actually posts
If you don't control itLeads landing in a vendor's CRM means your intake data lives somewhere you do not control.
What you can doYou can repoint the form yourself and stop the bleeding today. Getting the historical records out is a separate, contractual ask.
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high
Backlinks and citations
How to verifyWhether links point to the firm's domain or vendor microsites
If you don't control itAuthority built to vendor-owned properties does not move with you.
What you can doNothing to recover here. Audit which links point at your domain versus theirs, and treat the difference as work to redo.
Your results
This is a general checklist based on your own answers. It isn't a review of your contract or legal advice — read your agreement, and where it matters, see the full terms and ask a lawyer.
Before you sign the next one
Whether or not anything above applies to you, these are the five questions worth asking any marketing vendor before you sign. They take a minute each and they decide how the relationship ends before it starts.
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Who owns the data this generates — us or you?
In the contract, not the sales call. The answer determines everything else on this list.
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If we leave, what do we take, and in what format?
Ask to see an actual export, not a description of one.
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Is the domain registered in our name, with our own registrar login?
Registrant of record is what matters. Being told it's yours is not the same as being the registrant.
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Are the tracking numbers in our account, or in yours?
Numbers can be ported, but that right belongs to whoever is the account holder of record.
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Are the ad and analytics accounts ours with you granted access — or yours with us granted access?
It sounds like the same arrangement. It is not.
DRAFT — Joey to confirm or rewrite. I ask the first question of every vendor I work with, before anything else. If the answer isn't "you do," I don't sign. It's the fastest way I know to find out how a relationship ends before it begins.
If several of these came back "our vendor"
That's common, and it isn't usually malice — it's how the contracts are written. What matters is knowing which ones, and in what order. Send yourself the results and I'll read them before we speak.
If you're weighing an actual move, here's how the migration works and where it usually goes wrong.