{"id":31,"date":"2025-04-06T11:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T11:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/?p=31"},"modified":"2025-04-09T12:55:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T12:55:34","slug":"what-you-need-to-know-about-spf-dkim-dmarc-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/what-you-need-to-know-about-spf-dkim-dmarc-records\/","title":{"rendered":"What You Need To Know About SPF, DKIM &#038; DMARC Records"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>SPF, DKIM, and DMARC<\/b>\u00a0are email authentication protocols used to protect domains from email spoofing, phishing, and spam. Each one has different functions, but work together to ensure that emails are sent by legitimate sources\u00a0By implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC together, you ensure your emails are properly authenticated, reducing the risk of fraudulent emails being sent from your domain.<b><\/b><\/p>\n<h3>Table of contents<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Definition of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Records<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">How They Work Together<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Why These Records Are Important?<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">General Steps to Implement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Definition of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Records<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>SPF (Sender Policy Framework):<\/b>\u00a0SPF ensures that only authorized servers can send emails on behalf of your domain. If an email comes from an unexpected server,\u00a0<b>SPF flags it as suspicious.\u00a0<\/b>SPF is the initial defense in our email authentication toolkit, helping to keep your inbox free from messages that might end up in the spam folder.\u00a0It is important to note that only one SPF record is allowed per domain.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail):<\/b>\u00a0DKIM is the next level of authentication. It is like a stamp of authenticity that proves the email genuinely came from your domain.\u00a0This means that each email sent from your domain will have a\u00a0<b>unique digital signature,<\/b>\u00a0ensuring that messages are not sent without authorization or impersonated.\u00a0Setting up your DKIM records includes generating a DKIM key, creating a DKIM TXT record, and enabling DKIM signing.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting &amp; Conformance):\u00a0<\/b>DMARC acts as a coordinator that uses the information from SPF and DKIM to decide what to do with emails that don\u2019t pass the checks. It also provides you with reports on how your email domain is being used, helping you spot any potential abuse or issues.\u00a0In other words, DMARC is like a security guard, ensuring that both SPF and DKIM are working together to protect your domain from email threats.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>How They Work Together<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>SPF<\/b>\u00a0checks if the sender is authorized.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>DKIM<\/b>\u00a0ensures the content hasn\u2019t been altered.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>DMARC<\/b>\u00a0unifies SPF and DKIM and gives instructions on how to handle failures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Why These Records Are Important:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Protection from Email Spoofing:\u00a0<\/b>These protocols protect against attackers pretending to send emails from your domain.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Improved Deliverability:\u00a0<\/b>Properly authenticated emails are less likely to end up in spam folders.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Reporting:<\/b>\u00a0DMARC provides insights into how your domain is being used (or abused) via detailed reports.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Compliance:\u00a0<\/b>Many email providers, like Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft, now expect domains to implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>General Steps to Implement<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>SPF<\/b>: Create a DNS TXT record for your domain specifying authorized sending servers.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>DKIM<\/b>: Generate a public\/private key pair, configure your mail server to sign outgoing messages, and publish the public key in your DNS.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>DMARC<\/b>: Create a DNS TXT record that specifies your DMARC policy and reporting addresses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20241012220716\/https:\/\/www.blastable.com\/tutorials.html?id=spf-dkim-dmarc\"><b>Are you a Blastable member ready to set up your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records? See this article for specific directions.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SPF, DKIM, and DMARC\u00a0are email authentication protocols used to protect domains from email spoofing, phishing, and spam. Each one has different functions, but work together to ensure that emails are sent by legitimate sources\u00a0By implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC together, you ensure your emails are properly authenticated, reducing the risk of fraudulent emails being sent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-email-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}