How do I take over a website built by someone else?

The key points

• Access first: domain, hosting, repository and third-party accounts.
• Audit before promising anything either way.
• Document how the site is built and deployed.
• Decide to maintain, fix or rebuild on evidence.

Why does access come first?

It is common to discover that the domain, hosting or code sit with a previous developer, which is why website ownership belongs in every contract, and that becomes urgent at the wrong moment, such as a certificate expiring or a security problem. Recovering access can take time, so start there. If you do not hold these, getting them back is the first thing to do.

What does the audit decide?

Whether the foundations are sound. A site that is structurally fine but neglected needs updates, monitoring and tested backups. A site whose technology is unsupported, where changes break other things, may cost less to rebuild than to patch indefinitely. The audit should say which, and say so honestly.

What happens to search visibility?

Maintaining or fixing leaves addresses alone and so protects visibility. If a rebuild is the answer, follow a redesign plan that protects SEO: map every live URL first and redirect anything that moves, because address changes without redirects are the main cause of lost rankings.

Taking over a site, in order

1. 1

   Secure access

   Confirm you hold the domain registration, hosting account, repository and third-party logins, and recover any that sit with a previous developer.

2. 2

   Audit the site

   Check speed, mobile behavior, security, structure, search readability and how the site is built; a free website audit covers the first pass.

3. 3

   Record how it works

   Write down the stack, how it is deployed, what integrations it uses and who pays for each service.

4. 4

   Choose a path

   Decide whether to maintain it as it is, fix specific problems or rebuild, based on the audit.