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Before you sign

Who owns your website, and what happens when you change CRM?

Most agents find out who owns their website on the day they try to leave. Here is what to check before that day, in plain English.

In short
  • Five parts. The domain, the design and code, the words and photographs, the hosting, and the listings feed. You can own some and rent others.
  • The domain matters most. If it is registered to your supplier and not to you, your address is theirs.
  • A new CRM is a new feed, not a new website, as long as the website is yours.

The five parts of a website

Ask an agent whether they own their website and the answer is usually yes. Ask which parts, and it gets less certain. A website is five separate things, and a contract can treat each of them differently.

The partWhat to ask your supplierWith us
The domainYour web addressIs it registered to the agency, or to you?In your name. You buy it and hold it.
Design and codeHow it looks and worksDo we own it, or licence it for as long as we pay?Yours outright from launch.
Words and photographsEverything on the pagesCan we export all of it, in a usable form?Yours, and handed over whenever you ask.
HostingWhere it runsCan we move it to another host, and on what notice?First year included, then optional, thirty days' notice.
Listings feedYour stockWhere do the listings come from, and who pays for the feed?From your own CRM. We tell you up front if your CRM charges for it.
Five parts, five questions. Ask them in writing before you sign, and keep the answers.

The domain is the one to check today

Your domain is your address: the thing on your boards, your letterhead and every link anyone has ever shared. Everything else can be rebuilt. The address cannot, so it matters more than any other part who it is registered to.

It should be registered to the agency, not to the company that built the site. Ask your supplier to confirm it in writing, and ask for access to the registrar account it sits in. If it turns out to be in their name, ask for it to be moved into yours now, while everybody is on good terms.

For a .uk address, moving it between companies is a routine change of what the registry calls its tag, and it costs little or nothing. It only becomes difficult when it is left until the day you leave.

What happens when you change CRM

Your listings reach your website through a feed from your CRM. Change CRM and the feed changes. What happens to the website depends on how it was built.

  • If the website came with the CRM, it usually goes when the CRM goes, because it is part of the same product. Plan the new website before you give notice.
  • If the website is yours and independent, the new CRM's feed is connected in its place and the website carries on. The design, the words and the area pages do not change.

Two things do change either way. The addresses of individual property pages are often built from the CRM's own reference numbers, so they change with it; old property links should be pointed somewhere sensible rather than left to break. And if your website books valuations into your diary, that link has to be reconnected to the new system.

A change of CRM should be a change of feed. If it means a new website, the website was never really yours.

How each of the main CRMs feeds a website, from their own documentation: Reapit, Alto, Street, Dezrez, Jupix and Expert Agent.

Moving without losing your rankings

Rankings are rarely lost because a site changed. They are lost because pages that search engines knew about simply disappeared. Four things keep them:

  1. Keep the same domain. A new address starts from nothing.
  2. List every page that matters on the old site, especially area pages and anything people link to.
  3. Point each one at its new home with a permanent redirect, so visitors and search engines follow it.
  4. Tell Google. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console and watch for errors in the weeks after.

This is part of every build we do: we map the old site's addresses before launch and redirect them on the day.

Guides on this

How long does it take to build an estate agency website, and what happens at each stage?

A template can be live in a day; a bespoke build takes weeks, and some providers quote months. The stages, what causes delays, and when to start.

Does an estate agency still need its own website if it is on Rightmove?

Yes. Rightmove brings buyers to your listings; vendors choosing an agent look you up, and your website is the one place you control and they can book.

More on the guides page.

Questions

Who owns my estate agency website?

It depends on the contract, and on which part you mean. A website is five things: the domain, the design and code, the words and photographs, the hosting, and the listings feed. On a licensed platform you usually rent the design and code for as long as you pay. With a bespoke build from us, all of it except the feed is yours, and the feed comes from your own CRM.

Can I take my website with me if I change supplier?

Only the parts you own. If the design and code are licensed, you leave with your domain and your content and start the design again. Ask in writing what you would take with you before you sign, not on the day you leave.

Will changing CRM break my website?

Not if the website is independent of the CRM. The listings come through a feed, so a change of CRM means connecting the new feed. It does change the addresses of individual property pages, which is normal and handled with redirects.

Will I lose my Google rankings if I move to a new website?

Not if you keep the same domain and point every old address that matters at its new home. Rankings are lost when old pages simply disappear. A good move keeps the pages people and search engines already know.

Start a project

Bespoke, from £10,000, and every part of it is yours. See what it costs, or template or bespoke.