Will your follow-ups land in the inbox or in spam?
Enter your business domain or work email. The check reads the three public records Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook use to decide whether an email is really from you, then tells you in plain English what to fix.
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Your verdict
Waiting for a domain
One verdict, then a plain-English line for MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
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Three records, in plain English
SPF
Who may send as you
A list in your DNS of the servers allowed to send email for your domain: your email provider plus every tool that sends as you. Inboxes compare the sending server against the list.
DKIM
Your signature
Your email provider signs each message with a private key and publishes the matching public key in your DNS. The signature proves the message came from your domain and wasn't changed on the way.
DMARC
Your instructions
One record that tells inboxes what to do when mail claiming to be you fails SPF and DKIM: nothing yet (p=none), the spam folder (quarantine) or refuse it (reject). It can also send you reports.
Why automation raises the stakes. An automation sends from your domain to every lead, every time. If a record is wrong, it doesn't fail once. It fails for every lead, quietly, and you find out when people stop replying.
What Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook ask for
- Gmail. Anyone sending to Gmail accounts needs SPF or DKIM. Above 5,000 messages a day you need SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and DMARC "can be set to none." Google recommends all three for every domain and warns that mail without them "might be marked as spam or rejected." Source: Google, Email sender guidelines, checked Sep 2026
- Yahoo. Every sender needs SPF or DKIM "at a minimum." Bulk senders also need a DMARC policy of at least p=none. Source: Yahoo Sender Hub, Best Practices, checked Sep 2026
- Outlook. Domains sending more than 5,000 a day to Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live addresses need SPF, DKIM and DMARC at p=none or stronger. Microsoft said it would reject mail that fails, starting May 5, 2025. Source: Microsoft Tech Community, April 2025, checked Sep 2026
How the check works
When you press Check, your browser asks Google Public DNS for 22 records at once: MX, the TXT records on your domain, DMARC and DKIM keys at 19 common names. If Google doesn't answer within 8 seconds, Cloudflare's DNS is the backup. Then it follows every include in your SPF record and counts the lookups.
- The 19 DKIM names
- google, selector1, selector2, k1, k2, k3, s1, s2, default, dkim, mail, smtp, mandrill, mte1, zoho, kl, kl2, ctct1, ctct2. They include Google Workspace's default (google) and Microsoft 365's (selector1, selector2). A provider using another name won't show, so a miss is never called proof.
- The limit of 10 lookups
- SPF's standard, RFC 7208, counts include, a, mx, ptr, exists and redirect, and says the check must return an error past 10. The standard's number, not mine.
- The verdict (my rule)
- Ready needs a working SPF record, a DKIM key and a DMARC record at any policy. Not ready means no working SPF and no DKIM found. Everything else is Fix before automating. I hold Ready to all three because Google recommends all three.
A worked example
Say a landscaping company's SPF record reads:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:[newsletter-tool] include:[crm] ~all
- Google's include: 1 lookup (checked Sep 2026).
- The newsletter tool's include: 1, plus 2 inside it, so 3.
- The CRM's include: 1, plus 4 inside it, so 5.
Total: 1 + 3 + 5 = 9 of 10. SPF passes, and with DKIM and DMARC in place the verdict is Ready, with one lookup left. Add a booking app whose include costs 2 and it's 11: the check must return an error, SPF stops vouching for any of their mail, and only DKIM is left holding it up.
How to read your result
Ready
Nothing to buy. Run it again after you add any tool that sends as you.
Fix before automating
Something is missing or broken, often one record. Everyday mail may still land; fix the marked rows before an automation repeats the problem.
Not ready
No working SPF and no DKIM found. Mail from this domain risks spam or rejection today, automated or not. Start there.
What fixing it involves. Every fix is one DNS record, added where your domain's DNS lives (your registrar, web host or Cloudflare) with values from your email provider. The usual order is SPF, DKIM, then DMARC at p=none with a report address, tightened once the reports show your real senders passing. A second SPF record or an eleventh lookup quietly breaks what worked. If I build your follow-ups, I set these records up as part of the build.
Questions people ask
Do I need DMARC as a small business? +
Not to meet Google's minimum, but I'd add it. Google requires SPF or DKIM from everyone sending to Gmail accounts, and DMARC only above 5,000 messages a day. It still says "we recommend that you always set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for your domains," and a p=none record costs nothing.
The check says DKIM wasn't found, but I set it up. Who's right? +
Possibly you. The check tries 19 common names, and some providers use their own. Email a Gmail account from your business address, open it, and click the arrow below the sender's name. "Signed by" with your domain means DKIM works.
My SPF record is over 10 lookups. What do I do? +
Get it back to 10 or fewer. Remove includes for tools you no longer use first; each costs at least one lookup and some cost several. If you need every tool, a flattened record (IP addresses instead of includes) cuts the count, but someone has to keep it current when providers change servers.
Is it safe to run this on my domain? +
Yes. It only reads DNS records, which are public by design. The lookups run from your browser through Google's or Cloudflare's public DNS, and I don't store anything unless you send the form.
If everything passes, will my email always land in the inbox? +
No. These records prove your mail is yours; they don't make it wanted. Google also asks senders to keep the spam rate shown in its Postmaster Tools below 0.3%, and what you send, and to whom, still counts.
Want follow-ups that send themselves and reach the inbox?
I build automations that answer new leads, follow up on quotes and ask for reviews, sent from your own domain with these records set up as part of the build. I take on a limited number of builds each month. Free call, real plan either way.
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