Decide Who Owns the SEO Plugin License on a Client Website

Decide license ownership for each client site at the start of the engagement, and write it down: who pays, whose vendor account holds the license, who renews it, who contacts support, and what happens to the site when you part ways. Either the agency or the client can hold the license. What matters is that both sides know which it is and that the vendor’s terms allow it.

This guide compares the two arrangements through the moments where they differ. It is an operational guide, not legal advice. For contract language and enforceability, ask a lawyer.

Identify the payer and the account holder

Three roles are easy to blur, and a departure goes badly when they are:

The payer and the account holder can be different people. A client can reimburse a license that sits on the agency’s account. That works while the relationship lasts, but at departure the account holder, not the payer, controls the license.

Next, read the vendor’s terms for which sites a license may cover. They differ in ways that decide the arrangement for you:

• Rank Math’s pricing page says PRO covers “unlimited websites that you own. Client websites are excluded,” and its FAQ defines personal websites as ones you own 100 percent, not a client website. Client sites fall under its Business or Agency plans. Rank Math pricing page, checked September 27, 2026.
• Yoast states that “one subscription covers one site or domain.” Yoast SEO Premium product page, checked September 27, 2026. Its help page on adding and removing sites says that for a URL change other than adding or removing www or switching between http and https, you remove the outdated site, add the new one, and enable the subscription. Yoast’s help on adding and removing sites, checked September 27, 2026.
• WP Visibility’s license covers unlimited sites, client sites included, with one key entered on each site. Each site records its address against the key holder’s account as a support signal, not a limit. Use the same license on another site.

Compare agency-held and client-held licenses

Neither column is right for every agency. Agency-held licenses are simpler to run on a multi-site plan. Client-held licenses make departure simpler and keep the client independent of you.

Assign renewal and support duties

Whatever you choose, give each duty a named owner:

1. Renewal date. Who tracks it, and who is told thirty days before.
2. Payment method. Whose card or invoice, and who updates it.
3. Support contact. Whose email the vendor knows, and who may open tickets.
4. Update application. Who applies plugin updates once they arrive.
5. Lapse response. What the site loses if the license lapses, and who decides whether to renew.

The last point depends on the vendor, so quote its terms in your register rather than assuming. Yoast’s subscriptions FAQ says “an active subscription is required to get updates and use all features.” Yoast subscriptions FAQ, checked September 27, 2026. SEOPress’s pricing FAQ says that after cancelling you can continue to use the plugin but will no longer receive updates or support. SEOPress pricing page, checked September 27, 2026. For WP Visibility, the installed plugin keeps working with every feature after a license expires; updates and support stop until renewal. WP Visibility license terms.

Plan the offboarding before it happens

Write the departure steps into the onboarding record, while both sides are cooperating.

If the agency holds the license, decide now which of these applies at departure:

• The client buys their own license and enters it, replacing yours.
• You remove your key and the client runs without an active license, with the lapse behavior you recorded, until they decide.
• You keep supplying the license for an agreed period, at an agreed price.

For WP Visibility, removing your key from a client site is one command, wp visibility license deactivate, which removes the key while the plugin keeps working, per the WP-CLI reference. If you also defined your key as the WPVISIBILITY_LICENSE constant in wp-config.php, delete that line too: the command does not touch it, and wp visibility license activate run without a key would read it again. The client enters their own key under WP Visibility → Settings → License, as in the install documentation.

If the client holds the license, departure only needs you to hand back any vendor account access they gave you.

Transfers between accounts. Do not promise the client that a license will move from your account to theirs unless the vendor confirms it for your case. WP Visibility’s pricing page and terms do not describe a transfer between accounts, so ask support@wpvisibility.com before offering one.

An illustrative ownership register

A register kept for every client site answers these questions in one place. The rows below are fictional, for garden.example and two other invented sites.

Review the register when a contract renews, and again when a client gives notice. For the departure itself, the SEO handover pack includes a license section that this register fills in.

Checklist

• Payer, account holder, and site operator are named for each site.
• The vendor’s terms allow the license to cover this site in this arrangement.
• Renewal, payment, support, updates, and lapse response each have an owner.
• Lapse behavior is quoted from the vendor, with a checked date.
• Departure steps are agreed in writing at onboarding.
• No transfer is promised without the vendor’s confirmation.