Your website before selling your business

Key takeaways

Before selling a business, make the website a clean asset: owned by the company, secure, documented, with reliable enquiry and traffic data. Buyers' due diligence will ask who owns the domain, where enquiries come from and whether the site is a risk. A redesign is rarely needed; ownership, tracking and security fixes usually are.

• Put the domain, hosting and accounts in the company's name.
• Have 12 months of tracked enquiries by source ready.
• Fix security: supported software, backups, no known issues.
• Document platform, access, suppliers and costs.

Why does the website matter in a business sale?

In a business sale, the website is both an asset and a risk. As an asset, it holds rankings, enquiry flow and brand reputation. As a risk, it may be owned by a former supplier, run on unsupported software or have no reliable data. Buyers and their advisers check both.

• Signs your business needs a new website

What will buyers check?

Due diligence on a website usually covers ownership, performance, risk and cost.

• Who owns the domain, hosting, site files and content.
• Traffic and enquiry data by source for at least 12 months.
• Search visibility for core services.
• Platform support status and security history.
• Compliance: privacy notice, cookies, accessibility.
• Ongoing costs and supplier contracts.

• Who owns your website, domain and content?

What should you fix first?

Ownership. A domain registered to a former employee or agency is a problem a buyer will price in. Move the domain, hosting and all accounts into the company's name, record access in a secure document, and make sure more than one person can reach them.

How do you show the website's value?

With data. Twelve months of enquiries by source, Search Console performance for core service terms and the share of new business that starts on the website turn it from a cost into an asset with measurable returns.

• Track every website enquiry to its source
• Google Search Console for small businesses

Should you redesign before selling?

Usually not. A redesign shortly before sale adds cost, can disrupt rankings, and leaves no track record for the new site. Fix ownership, security, data and obvious content problems instead. Consider a redesign only if the site is a clear liability, such as an unsupported platform that buyers will flag.

• Unsupported CMS: what to do when support ends

What about compliance risk?

Buyers inherit compliance problems. Check the privacy notice matches how data is actually handled, the cookie banner meets PECR, and the site follows basic accessibility practice. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 raised potential PECR penalties, which makes cookie compliance a larger due diligence point than before.

• Cookie banners and UK law

What documentation should you prepare?

A short website pack that a buyer's adviser can read in ten minutes. It should list every account and who holds it, the platform and versions, hosting and renewal dates, suppliers and costs, and a summary of traffic and enquiries with the reports attached.

Add any known issues and what is planned to fix them. Buyers are more comfortable with disclosed, understood problems than with surprises found during due diligence, and a clear pack signals that the business is well run in other areas too.

• Account list: domain, hosting, CMS, analytics, profiles.
• Platform, versions and support status.
• Suppliers, contracts, costs and renewal dates.
• 12-month traffic and enquiry summary.
• Known issues and planned fixes.

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern in UK owner-managed businesses: the owner prepares for sale and discovers the domain is registered in the name of a web designer who has since retired. Recovering it takes weeks. Starting the website clean-up six to twelve months before sale avoids that delay landing in the middle of due diligence.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Pre-sale website checklist

Start 6 to 12 months before a sale.

• Transfer domain, hosting and accounts to the company.
• Document access, platform, suppliers and costs.
• Collect 12 months of enquiry and traffic data.
• Update software and confirm backups work.
• Check privacy notice, cookies and accessibility.
• Fix outdated content and broken pages.

Next step

If you are preparing to sell, we will review your website as a buyer's adviser would in 30 minutes, and list what to fix before due diligence.