Are your emails, or your marketing campaigns, ending up in spam folders? A DKIM record is one of the first things to check.
What is DKIM? #
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication method that adds a digital signature to every message you send. It confirms that the email comes from a trusted source and was not changed on its way between the sending and receiving servers.
A private/public key pair is used. The private key signs the email, and the public key is published in your domain’s DNS as a TXT record, so receiving servers can use it to verify your emails.
Is it important? #
Yes. Email was not designed with security in mind, so it is easy to send messages that appear to come from a legitimate address (email spoofing). For example, the recipient sees the sender as [email protected], while the message actually came from somewhere else. This trick is common in phishing and spam.
With DKIM, the receiving server can check that a message claiming to be from your domain really came from it, which makes it much harder to impersonate your brand. Authenticated email also builds your domain’s reputation with email providers, which helps keep your messages out of spam.
How does it work? #
- The sending server turns the message headers and body into a hash (a unique string), then signs the hash with the private key.
- The receiving server sees the DKIM signature on the incoming email.
- It fetches the public key from your domain’s DKIM TXT record and uses it to check the signature.
- It creates its own hash of the message. If the two match, the email is genuine and was not changed.
DKIM works best together with SPF and DMARC. See how to enable SPF and DKIM in cPanel and why website emails go to spam.
Related service: Hyyat Host business hosting gives you professional email on your own domain with SPF and DKIM set up, plus 24/7 support.
