Stopping your email from landing in spam (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

Gmail and Outlook decide whether to trust your mail using three DNS records. Without them, mail from your own domain often goes straight to spam.

SPF — who is allowed to send

One TXT record on @:

v=spf1 +a +mx +ip4:YOUR.SERVER.IP ~all

You may have only one SPF record. If you also send through Google Workspace or a newsletter service, merge them into a single line with additional include: terms rather than adding a second record.

DKIM — a signature proving the mail was not altered

cPanel generates this for you: Email → Email Deliverability → Manage → Install the suggested record. If your DNS is hosted here, one click applies it.

DMARC — what to do with mail that fails

A TXT record on _dmarc:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:you@yourdomain.com

Start with p=none and read the reports for a couple of weeks. Only tighten to p=quarantine once you are sure nothing legitimate is failing.

Check your work

cPanel's Email Deliverability page shows a green tick per domain when all three are correct. External testers will also grade the setup and show exactly which record is missing.

Things that will get you filtered no matter what

• Sending bulk newsletters from shared hosting. Use a proper bulk sender.
• A mailbox with a weak password that has been compromised and is sending spam.
• Writing "FREE!!!" in the subject line.