Leaving your marketing agency without losing anything
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Leaving a dental marketing agency cleanly comes down to order. Secure access to every account before you give notice, export your data while the relationship is still friendly, then give notice and remove the old access. If you switch dental marketing agency in the other order, you can lose conversion history, reviews or even your domain.
The exit below runs in order, with a section for when an agency won't hand over and a printable checklist at the end. None of it is legal advice on your contract. Read your contract's notice and ownership terms first, and take advice if they are unclear.
Before you give notice
Start by finding out what you own. Every account should be in the practice's name, with the agency holding access. The asset-by-asset list, and how to check each one, is on what your practice should own. Work through it before you say anything.
Then read your contract for three things: the notice period, what it says about who owns the website, content and accounts, and whether any fees apply on exit. If ownership is unclear in the contract, that is the point to take advice, not after you have given notice.
Finally, decide who takes over and when. A gap between vendors is when things quietly break: ads keep spending with nobody watching, or a tracking tag is removed and nobody notices for weeks. If the next marketer can start during the notice period, the handover is far easier.
Securing each account
The rule for every platform is the same: get a practice-controlled login to the highest access level before anything else changes.
| Account | What to secure | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | A practice login with Admin access | Admins can add and remove users and change access levels.1 If the account is linked to the agency's manager account, the client account can always unlink it, even when the manager has ownership.2 |
| Google Business Profile | The practice as primary owner | Primary ownership can only be passed to someone already on the profile, and Google applies a seven-day waiting period to transfers involving newly added owners.3 Ask early |
| Google Analytics (GA4) | Administrator on the account that holds your property | If the property sits in the agency's Analytics account, it can be moved, but the move needs Administrator and Editor roles on both accounts.4 |
| Google Tag Manager | Account Administrator and Publish on the container | If the container is in the agency's account, export it so the set-up can be rebuilt in yours5 |
| Meta | Your own business portfolio owning the Page and ad account | A partner given access, even full control, cannot share an asset with another business; only the business that owns it can6 |
| Domain | The practice as registrant, with the registrar login | See the website section below |
| Hosting and website admin | Practice-owned hosting account and an admin login | Without these you cannot move or maintain the site |
| Call tracking | Numbers and account in the practice's name | Porting rules vary by provider; check the contract |
Google Business Profile needs the most notice, because of the seven-day wait before primary ownership can transfer. Add a practice email as an owner first, wait, then have primary ownership transferred.
Keeping your data and history
Some history can't be moved. The safe assumption is that whatever you don't export before you leave, you may not see again.
| What | Why it matters | How to keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads account and conversion history | The platform's learning and your past results | Keep the same account. A new account starts with no history |
| Reports and dashboards | Your baseline for judging the next vendor | Download a full year of reports while you have access |
| GA4 property | Years of traffic and conversion data | Move the property to your own Analytics account; reporting data moves with it4 |
| Tag Manager set-up | Every tag, trigger and variable | Export the container as a file5 |
| Conversion action definitions | What counted as a result, and how | Ask for a written list, and screenshot the settings |
| Content | Pages, images, ad copy | Ask for the files, and check what the contract says about who owns them |
| Keyword and negative keyword lists | Years of learning about what not to pay for | Export from the ad account |
Keeping the same Google Ads account is the single most valuable thing on this list. A new account starts with no conversion history, so the platform has to learn from scratch.
The website
Websites cause the most damage on exit, because a move or rebuild done carelessly can cost rankings you spent years earning.
There are four separate things to secure:
- The domain. Make sure the practice is the registrant and holds the registrar login. For .uk domains, moving registrar currently uses Nominet's tag system; from 9 February 2027 it switches to a transfer authorisation code, the same kind of code used for .com names.7
- Hosting. If the agency hosts the site, you need either a transfer of the hosting account or a full copy of the site and database to move elsewhere.
- The website files and admin login. A copy of the site you can actually run, and an admin login in the practice's name.
- Email. If your practice email runs on the domain, check where it's hosted before touching any DNS settings.
If the site is being rebuilt as part of the change, every old address needs a redirect to its new equivalent. Skipping that step is the classic cause of a traffic drop after a rebuild. The process is covered in rebuilding a site without losing rankings.
If they will not hand over
Most agencies hand over when asked. When one doesn't, put the request in writing, list each account and the access you need, and give a reasonable date. Then use the routes that don't depend on the agency.
| Platform | Recovery route |
|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Request access through Google at business.google.com/add. The current owner is emailed and has three days to respond. If they do not, you may be able to claim the profile, though Google says that option is not always available.8 |
| Google Ads | If the practice has an Admin login, remove the agency's users and unlink its manager account.12 If the practice has no access at all, I could not find a published Google process for taking an account from an admin who refuses. Ask Google Ads support; the fallback is a new account, which starts without history |
| GA4 | A property move needs the agency's cooperation.4 Without it, set up a new property in your own account and keep downloaded reports as your history |
| Tag Manager | Without access, rebuild the tracking in a new container you own. Ask for the exported container file first5 |
| Domain (.uk) | Contact the registrar where the domain is held. If the domain is registered to the agency rather than the practice, the contract and your advisers are the route |
| Meta | Check in your business portfolio's settings which Pages and ad accounts it owns and which are only shared with it. A Page you only have access to shows the other business as its owner,9 and only the owning business can share an asset onward,6 so an asset held in the agency's portfolio needs the agency to act |
If the agency is holding assets back over a fee dispute, keep the two issues separate in writing. That is a contract question, and it's worth taking advice on.
The first month after
The handover isn't finished when access changes. In the first month:
- Remove every old agency user and manager-account link from every platform.
- Check conversions are still recording. Compare the numbers against your booking system for the same week.
- Check your Google Business Profile details, hours and categories have not changed.
- Change passwords on any shared logins, including the website admin and the registrar.
- Brief the new marketer with the exports, the conversion list and your contract history.
Printable exit checklist
| Done | Step | When |
|---|---|---|
| ☐ | List every marketing account and who owns it | Before notice |
| ☐ | Read the contract's notice, ownership and exit terms | Before notice |
| ☐ | Add a practice login as Admin in Google Ads | Before notice |
| ☐ | Add a practice email as owner on Google Business Profile, then have primary ownership transferred to it, allowing for Google's seven-day wait | Before notice |
| ☐ | Get Administrator on the Analytics account holding your property, or arrange a property move | Before notice |
| ☐ | Get Administrator and Publish in Tag Manager, and export the container | Before notice |
| ☐ | Confirm Meta Page and ad account sit in your business portfolio | Before notice |
| ☐ | Confirm you are the domain registrant and hold the registrar login | Before notice |
| ☐ | Confirm hosting ownership and get a website admin login | Before notice |
| ☐ | Download a year of reports, keyword lists and conversion settings | Before notice |
| ☐ | Collect content files, ad copy and images | Before notice |
| ☐ | Give notice in writing, listing any outstanding handover items | Notice |
| ☐ | Brief the next marketer and agree a start date | Notice period |
| ☐ | Remove old users and manager links everywhere | After exit |
| ☐ | Change shared passwords | After exit |
| ☐ | Check conversions against the booking system | First month |
| ☐ | Check Google Business Profile details | First month |
If you're leaving because the last vendor did not work out, the wider guide on choosing a dental marketer covers what to look for next time. If you want help with the exit itself, email me about your practice at [email protected]. I start with a free look at what your current site, ads and local listing show from the outside, and reply with what I find.
Sources
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Google Ads Help, "Manage access to your Google Ads account", https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6372672, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩ ↩2
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Google Ads Help, "Manager Accounts (MCC): About ownership of client accounts", https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7456532, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩ ↩2
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Google Business Profile Help, "Manage owners and managers of your Business Profile", https://support.google.com/business/answer/3403100, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩
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Analytics Help, "[GA4] Move a property", https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9305872, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Tag Manager Help, "Export and import containers", https://support.google.com/tagmanager/answer/6106997, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Meta Business Help Centre, "Give a partner access to business assets in your business portfolio", https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1717412048538897, checked at source and accessed 1 October 2026. ↩ ↩2
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Nominet Registrar Resources, ".UK is changing: you need to get ready", https://registrars.nominet.uk/registry/dot-uk/preparing-for-standardisation/, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩
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Google Business Profile Help, "Request ownership of a Business Profile", https://support.google.com/business/answer/4566671, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩
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Meta Business Help Centre, "Request access to a Page in Meta Business Suite", https://www.facebook.com/business/help/183277585892925, checked at source and accessed 1 October 2026. ↩