How do you switch dental website companies?
Secure your domain and accounts before you cancel your website service. Then plan the page move, check your phone numbers and test the new site before the old service ends.
The short answer
Start with access, then plan the move
Switch dental website companies by securing practice control of your domain and accounts before ending the old service. Save your pages, plan redirects for changed URLs and test the replacement site. Confirm ownership of your Google Business Profile and access to your phone numbers. Rankings can move after any change. No one can promise they will not.
Put the handoff in writing. Name who will handle the domain, DNS, email, site files, booking and call tracking. Ask each company to confirm its part before you set a launch date. Keep the current service active while you check what you can take with you.
What if the company will not release your domain?
Ask for registrar access and a written reason for any refusal or release fee. Use ICANN lookup to find the registrar and review the registration details shown. Ask the registrar to confirm who is listed as the registrant. Gather your agreement, invoices and prior domain emails before discussing a dispute.
For a move to another registrar, ICANN says you need an Auth-Code. Its registrant transfer FAQ says the registrar must provide the AuthInfo code within five calendar days of your request. Transfers can be blocked within 60 days of a new registration or a change of registrant.
Ask the vendor to identify what the fee covers and the contract clause it relies on. Ask the registrar what is blocking the transfer and what it needs from the registered holder. Check ownership disputes and disputed fees with your own counsel. Do not assume the code deadline resolves a dispute over who owns the domain.
Can you start while still under contract?
Yes. You can plan and build the new site while the old agreement runs, then launch when it ends. Before approving a launch or cancellation date, ask your own counsel to check notice terms, renewal dates, fees and rights to reuse the current site's code, copy and photos. Ask the outgoing vendor to confirm what it will hand over.
Request separate answers for the website, hosting, email, SEO and booking. List what should stay active through launch and what you want to end. Use the dental website monthly fee guide to frame those questions. If your current site is on a dental platform, our ProSites vs custom guide lists what to ask.
Ask for a written handoff list before giving final notice. It should name each item to be delivered, who will deliver it and when. Share that list with the new company so it can flag missing access or files before work depends on them.
Who should own the Google accounts and reviews?
Keep Search Console and Google Analytics under practice control. Include both in the handoff. Ask the new vendor to review them with you before launch and agree on what to check afterward.
- Search Console: Make the practice an owner and add the vendor as a user. Follow Google's owners and users guide to review access.
- Google Analytics: Keep administration with the practice and give the vendor its own user access. Google's user management guide explains account and property access.
- Google Business Profile: Make sure the practice is an owner of each location's profile. Review Google's owner and manager settings.
Your Google reviews live on the profile, not the website. Keep the existing profile in the handoff plan. If someone else controls it, follow Google's ownership request process. Have a practice owner sign in and check access before removing the outgoing vendor.
Can you keep the call tracking numbers?
Call tracking numbers are usually rented through the vendor's account. Before giving notice, ask who controls each number and whether it can be ported to your own account. Get the answer in writing. Do not treat a number printed on your website as proof that you own it.
List every tracking number, the office it reaches and where you use it. Include the website, Google Business Profile, other listings and ads. Ask who will arrange the move and test each number.
If a number cannot be ported, plan the replacement and update the listings that use it. Give the front desk the final number list. Test calls to each office before closing the old tracking service.
Record your pages before anything comes down
Make an inventory of the current pages and their URLs before the move. Include service pages, dentist bios, location pages, articles and booking links. Save copies of the content and ask which files you may reuse. For a dental group, check each location separately.
Next to each old URL, record whether it will stay or which new URL will replace it. Ask the new company to set up 301 redirects for changed URLs and test them. Google's site move guidance covers URL mapping and permanent redirects.
Use the website redesign SEO checklist for the detailed checks. Assign someone to review the page list before launch. A redirect plan does not promise stable rankings.
Use this order for the handoff
- Check the agreement. Confirm notice dates and the services you need through launch. Resolve questions about content reuse with your own counsel.
- Confirm access. Check the domain, hosting, email, Google accounts, booking and phone numbers. Put a practice contact beside each account.
- Save the current site. Collect the page inventory and agreed files. Record old and planned URLs before approving changes.
- Build and review. Check the replacement site's copy, office details, phone numbers and booking links. Ask staff from each office to review their pages.
- Assign the launch work. Name who handles DNS, email and redirects. Agree on a launch date and a way to reach both vendors if a check fails.
- Test, then close out. Check pages, calls, email, forms and booking after launch. Confirm account access and arrange the agreed cancellation before removing old vendor permissions.
Keep one shared list of open items, each with an owner and a due date. A sent request is not a finished handoff until someone confirms it.
For email, list the addresses the practice uses and ask who will check sending and receiving after the move. For booking and forms, have staff confirm that test requests reach the right office. Record who will fix any failed check before calling the launch complete.
How WTM handles a switch
We handle the domain, DNS and email move, and we can build while you are still under contract with your current company. Sites launch 2 to 4 weeks after you approve the design direction. You own the site, code, content and domain. Hosting is free for life, and you get one year of support after launch.
We also put a 180-day refund guarantee in writing: if the new site brings no new patients or leads (any contact form, phone call or booking that comes from the site) within 180 days of launch, you get a full refund. That covers patients and leads, not rankings, because no one can promise rankings. Pearl Dental Care is one of the dental practices we work with. See our dental website design page for the rest.
Compare the handoff before you sign
Bring your agreement, account list and page inventory to the next vendor discussion. Use the website quote comparison tool to compare proposals, and ask each company to put its handoff work in writing.