Many contractors find out who really controls their website on the day they try to change something. The designer has stopped answering, the login does not work, and nobody is sure whose name the domain is in. The business paid for the site, but paying for it and controlling it are not the same thing.
“Who owns my website?” has four answers, because a website is four separate things. Each can be held in a different account, by a different company. Here is how to check all four.
In this guide
The four parts of a website
| Part | What it is | What control looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Your address, such as yourcompany.com | The registrar account is in your name and you can log in to it |
| Hosting | The server the site runs on | You have the hosting account login, or a full copy of the site |
| The website | WordPress, the theme, plugins and database | You have an administrator login that works |
| Content | Text, photos, logo | Your agreement says it is yours, and you have the original files |
The domain matters most
Whoever controls the domain controls where your website and, usually, your email point. If you lose everything else, the site can be rebuilt. If you lose the domain, you lose the address your customers and Google know.
To check it:
- Find out where the domain is registered. A public lookup such as ICANN’s shows the registrar, even when the owner’s details are hidden for privacy.
- Ask yourself whether you can log in to that registrar account. If the answer is “my web designer handles that”, the domain is under their control, not yours.
- Check that the contact email on the account is one your company controls and will still have in five years. Renewal notices go there.
A domain registered by an agency in its own account is the most common ownership problem we see, and usually an innocent one. It was simply easier at the time. It still needs fixing before you need it.
Hosting
Hosting can reasonably be in a provider’s account. Ours is: clients on a care plan run on hosting we manage. What matters is what happens when you leave. You should be able to get a complete copy of the website, files and database, without a fee and without a fight.
Ask your current provider one question: if I cancel, how do I get a full copy of my site, and how long does it take?
The website itself
You should have your own WordPress administrator account, with your own email address, not a shared login and not a lower-level account. Log in today and check. If the list of users shows people you do not recognize or companies you no longer work with, note it.
Be aware of one exception. Some website companies do not use WordPress or any system you can take with you. The site lives on their own platform and cannot be moved. In that case you are renting a website, and leaving means rebuilding.
Content
Text you wrote and photos you took are yours. Text and photos produced by an agency depend on your agreement with them. Most agreements pass ownership to the client once the invoice is paid, but some license the content only while you remain a customer. It is worth reading that paragraph before a dispute rather than during one.
Who owns my website? A ten-minute check
- I know which company my domain is registered with, and I can log in there.
- The domain’s contact email belongs to my company.
- I know which company hosts the site and how to get a full copy.
- I have my own WordPress administrator login, and it works.
- I know where the backups are.
- I have the original files for my logo and project photos.
If someone else holds the keys
Sometimes the honest answer to “who owns my website” is “not you, yet”. That can be fixed.
Ask plainly and in writing: please transfer the domain to an account in my name, and send me an administrator login and a full backup of the website. Most providers do this without argument. If the relationship has ended badly, the registrar and the hosting company each have a process for proving who the rightful owner is, and invoices in your company’s name help.
Ask “who owns my website” once a year, and again after every change of vendor. The answer should always be you.
Not sure where things stand? Our free audit shows where your domain is registered and where the site is hosted, from the outside, with no logins needed. Request a free site audit.
On our WordPress care plans the domain, content and files stay yours, and you get a full backup if you leave. If you decide to move, see how to move a contractor website to a new host.