You can switch SEO agency without losing rankings if you secure access, keep redirects and tracking intact and own your content before the handover.
You can switch SEO agency without losing rankings, as long as you secure every login, keep redirects and tracking in place, and make sure you own the content and data before the old agency leaves. Rankings rarely drop because of the switch itself. They drop because something gets switched off, deleted or forgotten during the handover.
Most businesses change agency because results have stalled or communication has broken down. Both are good reasons. But the weeks around a handover are when the most damage happens, usually by accident.
This checklist covers the four areas that matter: access, redirects, tracking and content ownership. Work through it before you give notice, not after.
Before you give notice: get your own access
The first rule of switching is that every account should be owned by you, with the agency added as a user. If the agency owns any of them, fix that while the relationship is still friendly.
Check you have admin access to:
- Google Search Console, as an owner rather than a user
- Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager
- Your domain registrar and DNS
- Your hosting, CDN and website admin
- Google Business Profile, if you have one
- Any rank tracking, crawling or reporting tools paid for on your behalf
If a tool is on the agency’s own subscription, ask for an export of the historical data before the account is closed. Losing a year of tracking history makes it much harder for the next agency to see what changed.
Redirects: the biggest risk in any handover
Redirects are where switching agencies most often costs rankings. If the old agency set up redirects through a plugin, a server rule or a CDN that’s about to be cancelled, those redirects can disappear overnight.
Ask for a full list of active redirects and where each one lives. Then confirm they’ll stay in place after the handover. A missing 301 on a page that has links pointing to it can lose that page’s authority. Our guide to SEO redirects explains what to look for.
The same goes for anything the agency set up at server level: canonical rules, robots.txt changes, structured data added through a plugin they manage. List it, check it and keep it.
Tracking: keep your data unbroken
Tracking needs to run without a gap. If tags, conversion events or call tracking numbers belong to the old agency’s accounts, they can stop when the contract ends, and you won’t be able to compare before and after.
- Export a baseline from Search Console and GA4 for the last 16 months.
- Note the key conversion events and check they still fire after the switch.
- Move any call tracking or form tools into your own accounts.
- Agree a date when the new agency starts reporting from the same data.
This baseline is also how you’ll judge the new agency fairly. If you’ve ever wondered why your tools disagree, read why Search Console and GA4 show different numbers.
Content ownership: make sure it’s yours
Check your contract for who owns the content, images and reports the agency produced. In most cases you’ve paid for it and it’s yours, but some agencies host content on their own platforms or licence images in their name.
Download copies of anything published, plus keyword research, content plans and audits. If links were built through relationships the agency manages, ask for a list so the next team knows what exists.
The first 30 days with the new agency
A good new agency starts with an audit, not a rebuild. They should check that nothing broke during the handover before they change anything. Our SEO audits start with exactly this kind of check.
Watch out for any agency that wants to redo your site structure or change URLs in the first month. That’s the fastest way to lose rankings on top of a switch. The usual red flags when hiring an SEO agency apply here too.
It also helps to give the new agency a clear brief from day one. Our guide on how to brief an SEO agency includes a template. For B2B firms, make sure the brief covers lead quality as well as traffic, which is how our B2B SEO work is measured.
How to check nothing broke
Run a quick check in the first two weeks. Crawl the site and compare it with a crawl from before the switch. Check Search Console for new 404s and indexing drops. Compare organic clicks and leads week by week against your baseline.
If you’d like a second pair of eyes, our technical SEO agency team handles handovers for UK firms regularly. Book a free strategy session and we’ll walk through your checklist with you.
Related reading: our guides to what a good SEO agency report should show and 301 vs 302 redirects.
Common questions
Will switching SEO agency hurt my rankings?
Not by itself. Rankings usually drop only when redirects, tracking or site settings get removed during the handover, so a checklist protects you.
What should I get from my old SEO agency before leaving?
Admin access to every account, a list of active redirects, exports of tracking and ranking data, and copies of all content, research and reports.
How long does an SEO agency handover take?
Most handovers take two to four weeks. Start the access and data checks before you give notice so nothing is lost when the contract ends.
Should a new SEO agency change my site straight away?
No. A good agency audits first and checks the handover didn’t break anything before making structural changes.
