Secure access before you give notice. Take ownership of the domain, hosting, Google Business Profile, Analytics, Search Console and ad accounts, export the site and content, then send written notice. Do it in that order.
Order matters more than anything else here. Owners announce they are leaving, then discover the domain is in the agency's name, the Google Business Profile has them as a manager, and the website lives on a platform they cannot export. Suddenly a routine change becomes a negotiation. So before you say a word, spend an afternoon logging into everything and writing down what you control and what you do not.
Work the list. Domain: confirm you are the registrant, or request a transfer as a normal administrative task without mentioning why. Google Business Profile: make yourself a primary owner. Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads and Meta: admin or owner on each. Hosting: your own account with billing in your name. Website: a full export or backup of files, database and content, plus copies of all photography. Call tracking numbers: ported to an account you own, because losing a number printed on your trucks is expensive.
Then give notice in writing, cite the contract terms, and keep it professional. You may need these people for two more weeks of transition, and the industry is small. Ask for a handover document: what was built, what is in progress, where things live. Do not let the site go dark during the switch, and do not let a new vendor rebuild and drop your redirects in week one. Most ranking losses after an agency change come from a sloppy migration, not from the departure.
Send the site over. We will tell you what is broken, what you could rank for, and whether AI search knows you exist. No charge and no pitch deck.
