Overview
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication method, which lets the owner of the domain control who has the right to send emails under a specific domain name.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication method which guarantees that the subject, content, sender and recipient address of the message have not been changed during the sending process.
If SPF and DKIM records have been set up correctly, they give the receiving email server a signal that the email being sent is an authentic email and comes from a credible source. This helps improve the reputation of the domain and may also improve the delivery rate of emails sent from that domain.
These records must be added in your domain’s DNS server in your domain’s hosting service.
Adding SPF records
- In case there is no SPF record on the Domain name server administration page, add a new record:
Record: (leave empty)
Type: TXT
Value: v=spf1 a mx include:_spf.smaily.com ~all - If the SPF record is already there, then the following addition must be made to the existing record (add before ~all):
include:_spf.smaily.com
Once the SPF record has been added, it may take a minimum of an hour to propagate.
Thus, you should allow some time before sending out a new post. To avoid problems regarding the delivery of your emails, you must ensure that the SPF record contains the IP-addresses of all of the service servers, which send emails under that specific domain. Consult your IT-support to determine all the services.
Check the performance of the SPF record with MxToolBox SPF Check. In the “Domain Name” field add the domain to which you added the SPF record to. Then click “SPF Record Lookup”.
Adding DKIM records
Enable DKIM signing by creating two new CNAME records under DNS record settings. NB! Both records must be added to your domain!
| Record | Type | Value |
| blue.smly._domainkey | CNAME | blue._dkim.smaily.com |
| green.smly._domainkey | CNAME | green._dkim.smaily.com |
Checking if the records have been added correctly
After adding SPF and DKIM records to your domain you can check in Smaily, if the records have been correctly added.
- Go to your Smaily account and open your account’s settings.
- Go to the domains tab and click on the “Authenticate” button to start the process. NB! It may take up to 15 minutes to check the records on the domain.
Refresh the page after 15 to 20 minutes to see the results. If the records were correctly added then you should see a green shield icon before your domain.
Sometimes it might take longer than 15 minutes, but if the icon does not turn green even after half an hour. Contact us for more information at support@smaily.com