SEO contracts and ownership
Unless the contract says otherwise, the agency owns what it creates: business.gov.au explains that under IP laws a contractor automatically owns any IP they create, and if the hirer wants to own it, the contract must state this. Your Google accounts are a separate matter: in each one, control sits with whoever holds the top role: owner in Search Console, Administrator in Analytics, primary owner in Business Profile.
This page sets out who controls what, how to end an engagement without losing access, and the consumer law protections business.gov.au describes.
General information, not legal advice. For what your own contract means, a lawyer can advise you. business.gov.au explains contracts and the Australian Consumer Law for businesses; Google’s help centres explain each account’s roles.
The register: who controls what
| Asset | How control works | Worth settling in writing |
|---|---|---|
| Content, design and code | Copyright covers writing, visual images and computer programs automatically in Australia, with no registration. The contractor owns IP they create unless the contract gives it to the hirer. | Who owns pages, articles, images and reports once paid for, and whether the agency’s own pre-existing material (“background IP”) is in them. |
| Google Search Console | An owner has full control, including adding and removing users. A full user can view all data and take some actions; a restricted user has simple view rights on most data. A property must have at least one verified owner. | That you are a verified owner, and which role the agency holds. Google suggests read access only for an initial audit. |
| Google Analytics | An Administrator has full control and can add and delete users; an Editor has full control of settings but can’t manage users; a Viewer can see settings and data. Users added at account level get access to every property in that account. | Which role, at which level. Only an account-level Administrator can delete users. |
| Google Business Profile | A profile can have several owners but only one primary owner. Managers can do most things owners can, except add or remove users or remove the profile. | That the primary owner is you, with the agency as a manager. |
| Confidential information | A contract can include a confidentiality clause covering things such as client lists, pricing information and trade secrets. | What counts as confidential, and whether the duty continues after the contract ends. |
For the content, business.gov.au describes two common arrangements: each party keeps the rights to what it creates, or the hirer owns everything the contractor creates under the contract, with the contractor allowed to use it only if the hirer agrees. Which one a proposal uses is usually a single sentence, so it’s easy to miss. The annotated sample proposal has one ringed in red.
Ending an engagement cleanly
business.gov.au lists the usual ways a contract ends: both sides finish what they agreed, both agree to end it early, events make it impossible, one side uses an “end for convenience” clause, or one side commits a serious breach. Whichever way it ends, the practical work is the same: take back every key you handed over.
- Read the contract’s ending termsCheck the notice each side must give, what money is payable on ending, and any obligations that carry on afterwards, such as confidentiality. If you end by agreement, business.gov.au suggests putting that agreement in writing.
- Search Console: remove the agency, then its tokensAn owner removes users under Settings, Users and permissions. If the agency was a verified owner, also delete all its verification tokens, or it may be able to verify ownership again. Google asks for caution here: check first that the same token isn’t used by other Google services, because one token can be reused to verify ownership across several of them, and removing it could affect those services.
- Analytics: remove the agency’s usersUnder Admin, Access Management, select the users and remove them. Removing a user from a property also removes them from its subproperties.
- Business Profile: remove the managerOnly owners can remove other owners and managers, under People and access. The removed person’s past replies to reviews and posts stay on the profile.
- Collect what you ownReports, content files and anything else the contract says is yours.
If you find an owner you don’t recognise, Google says you may have been hacked.
If the only owner was the agency
If an agency set up the account and is its only verified owner, start here. Search Console’s help says that if the only verified owner of your site leaves your team, you should verify ownership yourself to keep or regain access. Once you’re verified, you can unverify previous owners by removing their verification tokens.
Verification is open to more than one person at a time, using the same method or different ones, so you can be verified alongside an agency from the first day.
Day one, not the last day.
Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law
Two sets of protections described on business.gov.au are relevant when a business buys a service like SEO.
Consumer guarantees
Your business has consumer rights when it buys services to help run it that cost less than $100,000 (as at October 2026, per business.gov.au). Services sold must be:
- carried out with due care and skill
- fit for the purpose stated
- supplied in a reasonable time, if no timeframe was agreed
Where a service has a major problem, the customer can change or cancel the agreement; for a minor problem, the business must fix it free of charge.
Unfair contract terms
The law protects small businesses from unfair terms in standard form contracts: pre-written agreements offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. business.gov.au’s examples of an unfair term are ones where only one party can vary the terms (such as the price), decide whether to renew, or decide whether the other has breached the contract. Only a court can find a contract term unfair; if it does, the term is void.
The rules don’t cover the upfront price, the main subject of the contract, terms the law requires or expressly permits, or terms both parties negotiated. Which businesses are protected depends on the size of the business and, for older contracts, the value of the contract. The tests changed on 9 November 2023.
Where to get help
If you think a contract term is unfair, business.gov.au lists your options: ask the other party to remove or change it, contact the ACCC to understand your options, talk to a lawyer, or contact the consumer protection agency in your state or territory. For a dispute over a contract term, business.gov.au points to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) for advice on which approach suits, and notes that the ASBFEO website lists the state and territory small business commissioners who offer alternative dispute resolution.
Before any of that, the contract itself may set out a process. business.gov.au suggests a dispute clause with written notice, a set time to discuss the issue, and referral to mediation, conciliation or arbitration if that fails.