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A DMARC record is a DNS TXT record that tells receiving mail servers what to do when an email fails authentication checks. It stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance. You publish it in your domain’s DNS settings, and it works alongside SPF and DKIM to protect your domain from spoofing and phishing. The sections below walk through everything ...

You can validate that your DKIM signature is correctly configured by checking your DNS TXT record, inspecting email headers on sent messages, and using a dedicated DKIM testing tool to confirm the signature passes verification. The process takes only a few minutes and gives you a clear picture of whether your setup is working as intended. Below, we walk through the most usefu...

Email forwarding services often break DMARC authentication because they change the email’s routing path in ways that interfere with SPF alignment. In most cases, a forwarded message will fail SPF, and depending on how the original sender configured DKIM, it may fail DKIM too. The result is a DMARC failure that can lead to the message being quarantined or rejected. The questio...

DMARC can fail even when SPF and DKIM both pass because of an alignment problem. Passing SPF or DKIM is only half the job. For DMARC to pass, the domain in those checks must align with the domain in the email’s From header. If those domains don’t match, DMARC will fail regardless of whether the underlying checks succeeded. Below, we unpack exactly why this ha...

Yes, authenticated emails can still land in spam folders. Email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC verify that an email comes from a legitimate sender, but they do not guarantee inbox placement. Spam filters evaluate dozens of other signals beyond authentication, including sender reputation, content quality, a...