The short answer
To switch marketing agency without losing work, a UK firm should take owner or administrator rights on every account before serving notice, and ask in writing for its client data to be returned when notice goes in. Google Business Profile makes a new owner wait seven days, and Search Console cuts off delegated owners once the verified owners go, so the order matters more than the notice period.
Key takeaways
- Take admin rights on every account before notice. Afterwards, each one is a request to a supplier the firm is leaving.
- A new Business Profile owner waits seven days before managing all its features, so start at least a week early.
- In Search Console, a delegated owner loses access once every verified owner is removed. Verify the firm directly.
- Move the Analytics property rather than starting a new one, because the reporting history moves with it.
- The firm chooses whether the agency returns or deletes client data. Choose return, in writing.
A new owner on a Google Business Profile must wait seven days before they can manage all the features, including primary ownership. That one line in Google's help centre is the reason a switch of marketing agency should begin at least a week before anyone serves notice.
Most of what a UK practice fears losing in a switch sits in accounts rather than in files: years of advertising history, the analytics, the verified search data and the profile prospective clients see on Google Maps. Every platform has its own rule for what happens when the agency leaves. Two of those rules cut the firm off by default when the agency does something routine, such as removing its own verification. The work survives a switch when the firm already holds the keys on the day it gives notice, rather than asking for them afterwards.
Why the order matters more than the notice period
Once notice is served, every account the firm does not already control becomes a favour asked of a supplier it is leaving. Plenty of agencies handle a handover well. The risk is not bad faith but a queue: the outgoing account is no longer anyone's priority, and a week's wait on each request adds up. The notice rules in the contract decide when payments stop. They do not decide when the firm gets its access, which is why access comes first.
The handover run-sheet, in order
Each account moves under a rule the platform publishes, and the rules set the sequence. Read on 19 September 2026. The firm can run most of this without mentioning a switch, since asking for admin rights on its own accounts is ordinary good practice.
Google Business Profile
At least 7 days before notice
A new owner waits seven days before managing all features, and only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership. Business Profile Help
The agency adds the firm's own Google account as an owner, then transfers primary ownership once the week has passed.
Search Console
Before notice
If all verified owners are removed, delegated owners lose access after a grace period. Search Console Help
Verify the firm as an owner in its own right, through the domain it controls, rather than relying on the agency's delegation.
Google Analytics
Before notice
All reporting data moves with a property, and moving it needs Administrator and Editor roles on both accounts. Analytics Help
Ask the agency to move the property into an account the firm owns. A new property starts its history at zero.
Google Ads
Before notice
Third parties must give customers the customer IDs for their accounts when requested. Google Ads policy
Record the customer ID and add a firm user with admin access. The agency unlinks its manager account last.
Client personal data
With the notice
The processor deletes or returns all personal data at the controller's choice when the service ends. UK GDPR Article 28(3)(g)
Choose return first and deletion after, in the notice letter, so the enquiry records come back before anything is wiped.
If the agency is slow on the Business Profile, Google offers a fallback: the firm can request ownership, which gives the current owner three days to respond before the firm may be able to claim the profile. It works, but it turns a week into a dispute.
Analytics is the row most often lost by accident. Google's data retention setting limits explorations to two or fourteen months on a standard property, while standard reports keep their history. That history only survives if the property itself does.
The domain and hosting follow separate rules again, and the guide to who owns a website sets out how to check them from the outside before raising it.
After the handover
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Get a recommendationThe handover request, in writing
A written request that cites each rule is harder to leave at the bottom of a queue. Send it with the notice, once the first row is done.
Further to our notice, please complete the following by the date below.
- Confirm the Google Ads customer ID for each account you manage for us. Google Ads transparency requirements
- Move our Analytics property into the account we have shared with you, keeping its history. Analytics Help, move a property
- Remove your Search Console verification only after confirming our own. Search Console Help, owners
- Return all personal data processed for us, then delete your copies. Article 28(3)(g)
- Send the working files the contract assigns to us, with a list of anything you are keeping.
We will unlink your access once each item is confirmed.
Item four matters more than it looks. The ICO's guidance on processor contracts says it is ultimately for the controller to decide what happens to the data. A firm that gives no instruction leaves that decision unmade on the day it matters. The retainer should already carry that term, one of the eight required by Article 28(3).
Warning signs during a handover
An export offered in place of access is the sign to slow down. A spreadsheet of last year's results is useful, but it is not the account, and the next agency cannot run campaigns from it.
- The agency holds primary ownership of the Business Profile and has not added the firm as an owner.
- The only Search Console owner is a verification the agency controls.
- The Analytics property sits in an account belonging to the agency, which proposes a fresh property for the firm.
- No one at the firm has ever logged into the Google Ads account.
None of these proves anything improper. Each is a question to settle before notice, while the relationship is still a live one.
When not to switch yet
If the firm cannot name the accounts the agency runs for it, the switch is premature. Make the list first. It often turns up accounts nobody at the practice knew existed, and those are the ones lost in a hurry.
Hold off too if the complaint is really about the brief. A new agency given the same unclear objective will produce the same disappointment, and the switching cost is paid twice. Agency Network Solutions introduces professional services firms to one vetted specialist, and who holds the accounts is one of the first things established before an introduction is made.
Frequently asked questions
What partners ask about switching agency.
What should a firm do before telling its marketing agency it is leaving?
Take owner or administrator access to every account the agency runs for the firm, starting with the Google Business Profile, which makes a new owner wait seven days before managing all its features. Serve notice only once the firm can open each account without the agency.
Can a marketing agency refuse to hand over a Google Ads account?
Google requires third parties to give customers the customer IDs for their Google Ads accounts when requested. That identifies the account, but it does not give the firm access, so the firm also needs a user of its own with admin rights before the agency's manager account is unlinked.
Will a firm lose its Google Analytics history if it changes agency?
Not if the property moves. Google says all reporting data moves with a property to its new account, but the move needs Administrator and Editor roles on both accounts. Starting a new property instead begins the history again from zero.
What happens to client data the agency holds when the contract ends?
Under Article 28(3)(g) of the UK GDPR, the agency must delete or return the personal data at the firm's choice. The ICO says that decision is ultimately the controller's, so the firm should ask in writing for return first and deletion after.
How long does it take to switch marketing agency safely?
Allow at least a week before notice for the Business Profile to change hands, then the notice period in the contract. The accounts can move in days, so the contract usually sets the overall length rather than the handover.
Sources and useful reading
- Google Business Profile Help, transfer primary ownership and request ownership.
- Search Console Help, managing owners and users.
- Analytics Help, move a property and data retention.
- Google advertising policies, transparency requirements.
- UK GDPR Article 28, and the ICO on what a processor contract must include.
This article is commercial decision support, not legal advice. Platform rules are described as published on the date above.