Who owns your website, domain and content?

Short answer

Your business should own its domain, hosting account, website files, content, analytics and Search Console, but that does not happen automatically. In the UK, copyright in commissioned design and code stays with the creator unless it is assigned in writing, and domains belong to whoever is named as registrant. Check each one now, not when you want to leave a supplier.

• Domain: your business must be the registrant, not the agency.
• Copyright: commissioned work stays with the creator unless assigned in writing.
• Accounts: hosting, analytics and Search Console should be in your name.
• Keep a record of logins in a business password manager.
• Write ownership and handover terms into every website contract.

What does website ownership mean?

Website ownership means holding the legal rights and practical control over all the parts that make up a website: the domain name, the hosting account, the design and code, the content and images, and the accounts that manage and measure it.

These are separate things. You can own the domain but not the code, or the content but not the hosting. Each needs checking individually.

Why do businesses lose control of their websites?

Usually by accident. A web designer registers the domain for convenience, hosts the site on their own account, and sets up analytics in their own Google account. Everything works until the relationship ends, a freelancer becomes unavailable, or the business wants to switch supplier.

At that point the business may find it cannot move the site, change the domain settings or access years of analytics data without the supplier's cooperation.

• Domain registered in the supplier's name.
• Hosting on the supplier's account.
• Analytics and Search Console owned by the supplier.
• No written assignment of copyright.
• Proprietary platforms that cannot be exported.

Who owns the domain name?

The domain belongs to whoever is named as the registrant. For .uk domains, the registry is Nominet, and you can check the registrant through the registrar's control panel or a WHOIS lookup, although personal details may be hidden.

Make sure the registrant is your business, the contact email is one you control, and you have your own login to the registrar account. Turn on auto-renewal so the domain cannot lapse.

• Website hosting for UK small businesses

Who owns the design, code and content?

Under UK copyright law, the creator of a work owns the copyright unless they are an employee creating it in the course of employment, or they have assigned it in writing. Paying for a website does not, on its own, transfer copyright in the design, code or text a supplier created.

The solution is a written assignment in the contract, transferring copyright in bespoke design, code and content to your business on payment. Third-party elements, such as themes, plugins, fonts and stock images, are licensed rather than owned, so make sure licences are in the business's name.

• Questions to ask a web design agency before signing

Which accounts should be in your name?

Hold ownership-level access to every account, and give suppliers their own lower-level access that you can remove.

• Domain registrar.
• Hosting or platform account.
• Website admin (your own administrator login).
• Google Analytics 4 property.
• Google Search Console property.
• Google Business Profile.
• Tag manager, booking system, email marketing and payment accounts.

• GA4 setup for small business websites
• Google Search Console for small businesses

When is shared control reasonable?

Shared control is reasonable when a supplier manages hosting as part of a maintenance plan, provided you have admin access, regular backups and a contractual right to a full export. Some platforms are proprietary by design, and the trade-off for convenience is reduced portability.

Decide knowingly. Convenience is fine if you can leave on reasonable terms. Being locked in is not.

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern when businesses change website supplier: the domain is registered to a former freelancer who can no longer be reached, and the renewal date is approaching.

Recovering a domain in that position can take weeks and may need the registry's dispute process. Checking the registrant today, and moving it into the business's name while relationships are good, avoids the problem entirely.

• What makes a business website effective
• See the three problems we fix for UK businesses

Ownership checklist

Check each of these this month.

• Confirm the domain registrant is your business.
• Get your own registrar login and turn on auto-renewal.
• Confirm hosting is in the business's name.
• Hold admin access to the website.
• Own the GA4 and Search Console properties.
• Get written assignment of copyright for bespoke work.
• Store all logins in a business password manager.

Next step

If you are not sure who controls your domain, hosting or analytics, we will check each one with you in 30 minutes and tell you what to move into your name.