Quick answer: Before you leave a marketing agency, make sure your business has its own admin access to every ad account, analytics property and tag manager container, then collect your creative files, tracking documentation and reports. Only after your access is confirmed should the agency's access be removed. Doing it in that order keeps campaigns, history and tracking working through the switch.
Why does the order of the handover matter?
Most problems come from removing access in the wrong order. If the agency's login is the only admin on an account, removing it can leave nobody able to manage that account. Google warns that a Tag Manager account with only one administrator can lock a business out if that person becomes unavailable, and recommends that accounts be managed by someone in your organization, not an outside agency. The same principle applies to every platform: add your own admin first, confirm it works, then remove theirs.
What should you keep when you leave?
Use this checklist before you send notice, while the relationship is still cooperative.
| Asset | What to confirm | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads account | Your business has a user with Admin access | Admins can manage users and unlink manager accounts |
| Meta ad account | Which business portfolio the account sits in | Accounts created in a portfolio stay in it |
| Google Analytics | Your business has the Administrator role at account level | Needed to manage or remove users |
| Tag Manager | At least two admins from your business | Prevents lockout if one leaves |
| Creative | Source files, final exports and ad copy | Lets you keep running or adapting ads |
| Tracking | Written list of conversion events and where they fire | Helps a new provider avoid breaking measurement |
| Automation | Rules, scripts and scheduled reports | Some may stop or keep running unexpectedly |
| Reports | Past monthly reports and the raw exports behind them | Gives you a baseline for the next provider |
How do you take back your Google Ads account?
Check the account's access settings for a user from your business with Admin access. Google's access levels guide shows that only Admin users can add or remove users, change access levels, and unlink manager accounts. Standard access lets someone edit campaigns but not manage users.
If your account is linked to the agency's manager account, note whether that manager account has ownership. When it does, the agency's admins can also edit user access in your account. Once your own Admin user is in place, you can unlink the manager account. Keep the account itself: its history and settings stay with it.
Also check billing. Ask who the payment method belongs to, and make sure a payment method your business controls is in place before the agency's is removed, so ads don't stop unexpectedly.
How do you take back your Meta ad account?
First find out which business portfolio the ad account lives in. Meta's help center explains that an ad account created in a business portfolio stays permanently part of that portfolio and can't be transferred, and that an ad account can only be in one portfolio at a time.
- If the account is in your portfolio and the agency was given shared access, you can remove their partner access when you're ready.
- If the account is in the agency's portfolio, you can't move it to yours. Ask the agency to keep sharing it while you set up a new ad account in your own portfolio, and plan to rebuild campaigns there.
For the second case, export what you can first: campaign settings, audiences you're allowed to keep, ad copy and creative. Check where your other Meta business assets sit too, since each can be owned or shared separately.
What about analytics and tracking?
In Google Analytics, a user needs the Administrator role at account level to delete other users, and you can't remove the last Administrator. Add a user from your business as Administrator, confirm it, and then remove agency users.
Ask the agency for a short written summary of your tracking: which conversion events exist, where they fire, and which ones are imported into ad platforms. If your next provider changes tags without this, conversion counts can shift in ways that look like a performance change but aren't. Our conversion tracking test guide covers how to check events after the handover.
How do you avoid a gap in ad performance during the switch?
Keep campaigns running unchanged during the handover if you can. Changing provider, tracking and campaign structure in the same week makes it hard to tell what caused any change in results. A practical order is:
- 1. Confirm your own admin access everywhere.
- 2. Collect files, documentation and reports.
- 3. Give notice according to your contract.
- 4. Give the new provider or tool access.
- 5. Remove the old agency's access.
- 6. Wait a few weeks before restructuring campaigns.
Compare results using the same conversion definitions you used before. Our weekly ad account checklist is a useful baseline for the first month.
A handover example (hypothetical)
This is an illustrative scenario, not a customer case. A local business decides to move from an agency to managing ads in-house. It finds its Google Ads account is its own, but the only Admin user is the agency's. Its Meta ad account turns out to sit in the agency's portfolio. The business adds its own Google Ads Admin, unlinks the manager account, and asks the agency to keep sharing the Meta account for 30 days while it creates a new ad account in its own portfolio. Nothing is switched off until both are in place.
What comes after the agency?
The next step depends on the work you still need covered. Some businesses hire a different agency or freelancer; others bring the work in-house with software. Omesta connects to Meta and Google ad accounts your business controls, runs daily reviews, and asks for your approval before supported ad changes, as described on the AI ad management page. It doesn't take ownership of your ad accounts, and ad spend stays billed by the platforms. Compare current plans or read how software compares with an agency before you decide.
Frequently asked questions
Can an agency keep my ad account after I leave?
It depends on where the account was created. A Meta ad account created inside the agency's business portfolio stays there. A Google Ads account remains yours to manage once you hold Admin access and unlink their manager account.
Will I lose my campaign history if I switch agencies?
Keeping the same ad accounts is the best way to keep it, because campaign history is stored in the account. If you have to open a new account, export reports and settings from the old one first.
Should I tell the agency before taking back access?
Yes, as your contract requires. Confirming your own admin access while the relationship is cooperative usually makes the handover smoother.
What if the agency won't give me access?
Check your contract's ownership terms first. Google also requires its third-party partners to provide your Google Ads customer ID on request, which helps if you need to contact Google directly.
