Email Deliverability & DNS Guide

A simple guide to making sure your emails actually reach your customers' inboxes instead of their spam folders.

To ensure your business emails are trusted by providers like Gmail and Outlook, you need to add a few specific records to your domain's DNS settings. Here is the easiest way to do it.

Step 1: Log in to your domain registrar

Your DNS records live wherever you bought your domain name (for example: GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, or Cloudflare). Log in to that account and look for a section called DNS Management, DNS Records, or Advanced DNS.

Step 2: Generate your records using AI

The easiest way to figure out exactly what records you need is to ask an AI assistant like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or Gemini.

Go to your preferred AI and prompt it with something like:
"I need to set up standard email deliverability records (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) for my domain [insert your domain here]. Please generate the exact DNS records I need to add."

If you are using a specific email provider (like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365), be sure to mention that in your prompt so it gives you the exact values for that provider.

Step 3: Add the records to your registrar

Take the records the AI generated and add them one by one in your registrar's DNS settings. For each record, you will generally need to:

• Select the Record Type: Usually TXT or CNAME.
• Paste the Name/Host: This is often @ or a specific prefix like _dmarc.
• Paste the Value: The long string of text provided by the AI.
• Save: Save the record and repeat for the next one.

Step 4: Verify your work

DNS changes can sometimes take a little while to update across the internet. Once you've saved your records, you can check if they are set up correctly using a free tool.

Go to MXToolbox.com and enter your domain name to run a check. It will highlight any errors or confirm that your email deliverability records are good to go.