Will your domain reach the inbox?

What each check means

Mailbox providers use these signals to decide whether your email reaches the inbox or the spam folder. Here's what each one is, why it matters, and what a fail costs you.

SPF — Sender Policy Framework

A DNS record listing which services are allowed to send email for your domain. Receivers use it to confirm the sender is really you. No SPF is one of the fastest routes to spam — fix it by publishing a single TXT record for your sending provider.

DKIM — DomainKeys Identified Mail

A cryptographic signature on every email so receivers can verify it wasn't altered in transit. Google and Microsoft treat unsigned bulk mail as suspect, and unsigned mail fails DMARC alignment — so enable DKIM in your mailbox provider and publish the key it gives you.

DMARC — Domain-based Message Authentication

Tells receivers what to do when SPF or DKIM fail, and gives you reporting on who's sending as your domain. Since 2024, Google and Yahoo require it from bulk senders — no DMARC, no inbox. Start with a monitoring-only p=none policy, then tighten it once your reports are clean.

MX — Mail Exchange

The records that say where your domain receives mail. Without them, every reply bounces — and mailbox providers treat send-only domains as suspicious, which a cold-email domain can't afford. Fix by adding your provider's MX records.

Blacklists — Spamhaus DBL & SURBL

Reputation lists that flag domains tied to spam. A single listing can silently kill every campaign on the domain. If you're listed, pause sending, fix the underlying cause, then request delisting — no DNS change helps while you're on a list.

Domain age & expiry

Receivers distrust brand-new domains, so anything under 30 days needs slow, careful warmup — blast on day one and you burn it. We also flag the registration expiry date: an expired domain takes every mailbox, DNS record, and campaign down at once, so renew early and turn on auto-renew.

Fix what fails, right here

When a check fails, the report generates the exact DNS record to add — type, host, and value, ready to paste into Cloudflare, GoDaddy, or Namecheap — plus the steps to verify it. Re-check the domain once DNS propagates to confirm you're green.