Your contract decides who owns the content, not the invoice. Under U.S. copyright law, the party that created a work is ordinarily its author, and a transfer of copyright ownership generally needs a signed writing. Accounts are a separate question: check that your own login holds the top role on your domain, Business Profile and analytics property.
Two clocks are why the handover should start weeks before you give notice. Google says a new owner of a Business Profile must wait 7 days before they can manage all the features
, and Search Console says that As long as a user's verification token remains for a property, a deleted owner can re-verify ownership of the property.
Removing an agency's name from a user list is not the end of its access. The checklist below is built around those rules.
Who owns the website content an agency writes for your practice?
By default, the creator does, unless a signed document says otherwise. The U.S. Copyright Office puts the starting point plainly: Ordinarily, the author is the person or persons who actually created the work you intend to register.
When an agency's staff write your pages, take your photos or design your site, the practice did not create that work, so it is not the author by default.
Two things can change that. The first is a written transfer. Section 204(a) of the Copyright Act says A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner’s duly authorized agent.
The second is a work-made-for-hire agreement, and it is narrower than many contracts assume. Circular 30 lists four criteria for a commissioned work, including a category test and a written agreement signed by all parties, and adds: If a work fails to satisfy any of these requirements, it is not a work made for hire.
So the practical test is short. Find the clause in your agreement that transfers ownership of the deliverables to the practice, and check that it is signed. If you cannot find one, ask the agency for a signed assignment before you leave, and ask your attorney whether your agreement already covers it. The Copyright Office itself notes that it cannot provide legal advice about the status of a work.
Sources: U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 30, Works Made for Hire · 17 U.S.C. § 204. Both opened 28 October 2026.
What should a dental practice own before leaving its marketing agency?
Eight things, each held by a login the practice controls. The table gives the role your own account should hold, the official name for it, and how to check it yourself. A role held by the agency on your behalf does not count; the test is whether your own login can see and change it.
| What to own | The role your own login should hold | How to check it yourself |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Domain name | Registrant (the "domain name holder") at the registrar. ICANN: An Auth-Code is required for a domain holder to transfer a domain name from one registrar to another. | Log in to the registrar and confirm the practice is the registrant and that you can get the Auth-Code, either from the control panel or from the registrar on request. |
| 2. Hosting and a full site backup | Your own hosting account. For WordPress: You need both to be able to fully restore a typical WordPress site.(the database and the files). | Download a dated backup that contains both parts. In cPanel this is the Backup page. |
| 3. Website admin | WordPress Administrator: somebody who has access to all the administration features within a single site. | Open Users in the dashboard and find your own name with the Administrator role. |
| 4. Google Business Profile | Primary owner. Google: Only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership. | Open the profile's People and access settings and find the practice listed as Primary owner. |
| 5. Analytics and Search Console | Google Analytics Administrator (Can manage users (add/delete users, assign any role or data restriction).) and a Search Console verified owner. | In Analytics, open Property access management. In Search Console, open Users and permissions. |
| 6. Phone and call-tracking numbers | The account holder with the phone carrier or tracking provider. Federal rules define portability as the ability of users of telecommunications services to retain, at the same location, existing telecommunications numberswhen switching carriers. | Ask whose account each published number sits in. If it is the agency's, ask the provider in writing whether and how the number can be moved to your account before that account closes. |
| 7. Reviews and review profiles | Google reviews stay with the Business Profile. Google: This ensures all of your business info, like reviews, are maintained. | For any other review site, ask the agency to list every account it created and who is its owner. |
| 8. Reports and raw data | Copies of every report, plus the raw data behind it. Google Analytics: You can export all of your raw events from Google Analytics propertiesto BigQuery. | Ask for the files in a format you can open without the agency's software, with dates. |
Why start the handover 30 days before you give notice?
Because some steps have waiting periods the agency cannot shorten. Google Business Profile makes a new owner wait seven days before they can manage all features, and during that week Google says they might get an error if they try to Make themselves or someone else the primary owner.
A registrar can take time to issue a transfer code: ICANN tells registrars to Provide the Auth-Code within five calendar days of a request.
Thirty days leaves room for those clocks and for one round of fixing what turns out to be missing. A workable order:
- Day 30 before notice: list every account and asset the agency touches, and who holds the top role on each.
- Day 25: ask for owner or administrator access for your own login on each one. The Business Profile seven-day wait starts once you are added as an owner.
- Day 15: get the Auth-Code from the control panel or the registrar to confirm you can, and ask for a full site backup with database and files, and copies of all reports.
- Day 7: confirm primary ownership of the Business Profile is yours, and check that the backup opens.
- Notice day: remove the agency's users and verification tokens, and ask for the signed transfer of content if your contract needs one.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help, Transfer primary ownership · ICANN, About Auth-Code. Opened 28 October 2026. The day numbers are our suggested order, not a rule from either source.
How do you get your Google Business Profile back from an agency?
Ask the agency, if it is the primary owner, to transfer primary ownership to your own account. Google states that Only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership.
Google also has a separate process for requesting ownership of a profile, but a transfer by the current primary owner is the direct route. Ask for it while the relationship is still working, not after notice.
Transferring primary ownership, rather than opening a new profile, is also what keeps your reviews. Google's help page says transferring primary ownership ensures all of your business info, like reviews, are maintained.
A new profile starts with none. If the agency is only a manager on a profile you already own, there is nothing to transfer; you remove the manager when you leave.
Source: Google Business Profile Help, opened 28 October 2026.
How do you remove an agency's access without losing your data?
Secure your own top role first, then remove theirs, in that order. In Google Analytics the Administrator role is the one that can manage users; an Editor has Full control of settings at the property level. Can't manage users, but can view users across a property.
If your login is only an Editor, you cannot remove the agency.
Search Console needs one extra step. Deleting a former owner from the user list is not enough, because a deleted owner can re-verify while their token remains. Google's instruction is to Delete all verification tokens for this user in this property.
A token can be an HTML file, a meta tag or a DNS record, and verification can also come through a Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager account, so check every method Search Console lists for that user. Google also warns that the same token can verify other Google services, so remove only the ones that belong to the agency.
If the agency runs your Google Ads through its own manager account, the link has to be removed when you leave, and Google says You must have administrative access to the manager or client account to unlink the account from your manager account.
That is one more reason to secure your own administrative access before you ask for the unlink.
Sources: Analytics Help, Access and data-restriction management · Search Console Help, Managing owners, users, and permissions · Search Console Help, Verify your site ownership · Google Ads Help. Opened 28 October 2026.
What happens to your phone numbers and call tracking when you leave?
It depends on whose account the numbers are in. Federal rules describe number portability as the ability of the users of a telecommunications service to keep their numbers when switching carriers. If the agency bought your tracking numbers in its own call-tracking account, the agency is the account holder, so moving those numbers to you depends on the provider's own process. Settle that before the account is closed.
Ask the agency for a list of every number printed on your website, your Business Profile and your ads, with the provider and the account each one sits in. Numbers that patients already call are worth moving; numbers used only for one old campaign can usually be retired. We could not open the call-tracking providers' own porting pages on 28 October 2026, so ask your provider for its process in writing.
Source: 47 CFR § 52.21, definitions, opened 28 October 2026.
What does a written ownership clause look like?
It names the deliverables, says when they become yours, and says what the agency keeps. As one example, here is the clause in Citevio's own terms of service. We are an agency, so read it as one published contract, not as a neutral standard:
The clause covers Everything we create specifically for your practice — page content, structured data, profile copy, reports, screenshots of your results
and says: You keep it after cancellation. We will not remove published work from your website when you leave.
The same section keeps the agency's own toolkit with the agency: What stays ours is our own toolkit: our scanning engine, our methodology, our internal playbooks, templates, prompts and software.
Compare your own agreement against the same three points: what is listed, when ownership passes, and what is excluded. A clause that names no deliverables, or that makes ownership depend on staying a client, is worth raising before you sign or before you leave.
Source: Citevio terms of service, sections 6 and 13, read 28 October 2026.
If you are leaving because results never showed up, it is worth seeing what AI engines say about your practice today, before anything changes.
Prefer to question the engines by hand? See how to check what ChatGPT says about your practice.
How we measured this
On 27 October 2026 we asked ChatGPT and Perplexity, twice each, who owns the website and content when a dental practice leaves its marketing agency. All four answers said it depends on the contract. None quoted an official rule, and none named the account roles in this table. We then opened each platform's official help page on the same day and quoted it word for word. The role names belong to the platforms named; a different registrar, host or website builder will use its own. We did not test any transfer on a real practice account.
We wrote this page for dental practice owners who are thinking about changing agencies and want to keep what they paid for. It is general information, not legal advice; for a specific contract, ask a lawyer licensed in your state.
Common questions
Who owns my dental website if the agency built it?
Your contract decides. Under U.S. copyright law the creator is ordinarily the author, so content and design pass to the practice through a signed written transfer or a valid work-made-for-hire agreement. Accounts such as the domain or hosting are owned by whoever holds them in their own name.
Does paying the agency's invoice make me the owner of the content?
Not by itself. Section 204(a) of the Copyright Act says a transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless it is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights. Payment pays for the work; the signed clause moves the ownership.
Is a work-made-for-hire clause enough to own my website?
Not always. The Copyright Office lists four criteria for a commissioned work to be made for hire, including that it falls within one of nine categories and that a written agreement is signed by all parties. If any criterion fails, it is not a work made for hire. Ask your attorney whether a separate assignment is needed.
Who should be the registrant of my practice's domain name?
The practice. The registrant is the domain name holder, and ICANN says an Auth-Code is required for a domain holder to transfer a domain name from one registrar to another. If the agency's company is listed as registrant, ask for that to be changed before you leave.
How long does a registrar have to give me the Auth-Code?
ICANN says registrars either let the registrant create the code in a control panel or provide it within five calendar days of a request. If the registrar does not, ICANN's page directs you to submit a Transfer Complaint.
Can the agency keep my Google reviews if I leave?
Reviews stay with the Business Profile, not with the agency. Google says transferring primary ownership ensures all of your business info, like reviews, are maintained. The risk is a profile held in the agency's account, so confirm the practice is the primary owner.
Why can't I make myself primary owner of my Business Profile right away?
Google makes a new owner or manager wait 7 days before they can manage all features. During those 7 days, trying to make yourself or someone else the primary owner can return an error. Start the request at least a week before your notice date.
What is the difference between an Administrator and an Editor in Google Analytics?
An Administrator has full control and can manage users. An Editor has full control of settings at the property level but cannot manage users. To remove an agency from your Analytics property, your own login needs the Administrator role.
Is removing the agency from Search Console users enough?
No. Google says that as long as a user's verification token remains for a property, a deleted owner can re-verify ownership. Delete the agency's verification tokens too, whether they are an HTML file, a meta tag or a DNS record, and remove any access it holds through Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager.
What should a website backup include before I switch agencies?
For a WordPress site, both the database and the files. WordPress's own documentation says you need both to fully restore a typical WordPress site. Ask for a dated copy and check that it opens.
Can I keep my call-tracking phone numbers?
It depends on whose account the numbers are in and on the provider's process. Number portability lets the user of a number keep it when switching carriers, so first find out whose account each number is in, then ask the provider in writing whether and how the numbers can move to you.
Does Citevio hand over its work if a practice cancels?
Yes, for the work it creates. Citevio's terms say the practice keeps everything created specifically for it after cancellation, and that within 14 days of a request after the engagement ends Citevio hands over every scan result recorded for the practice as CSV files. Citevio's own software and methods stay with Citevio.