Why Gmail sends you to spam: the three records
SPF, DKIM and DMARC explained, the exact records we set up for your domain, the 5-second check and Google Postmaster Tools.
An email with clean words, no attachments and no odd links can still land in spam. Gmail judges more than the text: who sent it (the domain and its reputation), which server it came from, the proof it carries (three DNS records) and what people did with your last emails. A brand-new domain has no history yet, so the proof records matter most there.
The three records
All three are TXT records in your domain's DNS. Receivers like Gmail and Outlook read them before deciding where your email goes.
| Record | What it says | Without it |
|---|---|---|
| SPF | The list of servers allowed to send email for your domain. | Anyone could send as you, so receivers trust nobody. |
| DKIM | A signature on every email that proves nothing was changed on the way. | Gmail cannot prove the email is really yours. |
| DMARC | What to do when SPF or DKIM fails (deliver, send to spam, or reject), and where to send reports. | Gmail and Yahoo now require it for bulk senders; missing it is a strong spam signal. |
The records we set up for you
When you buy a domain in Integrations → Domains (or bring your own and point its nameservers at us), we publish all three for you, plus the MX record that receives replies. For a domain called yourdomain.example they look like this:
| Type | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| TXT (SPF) | yourdomain.example | v=spf1 a mx ip4:<your sending IP> -all |
| TXT (DKIM) | <selector>._domainkey.yourdomain.example | v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=<public key> |
| TXT (DMARC) | _dmarc.yourdomain.example | v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; sp=quarantine; rua=mailto:<report address>; adkim=r; aspf=r; pct=100; |
| MX | yourdomain.example | mail.yourdomain.example |
- SPF allows only your domain's own sending server (
-all= reject everything else). - DKIM uses a key made for your domain alone; the selector is shown in the DKIM pill's tooltip after a check.
- DMARC starts at
quarantine: an email that fails the checks goes to spam instead of the inbox. That protects your domain from people faking it.
Nothing to do on your side: the Deliverability column shows Getting prepared for the first hours, then four green pills. We re-check these records every day.
Your own mailbox (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoho…) on your own domain? Then your email provider gives you the records: add its SPF include, publish its DKIM key and add one DMARC record, all at your DNS provider. Keep one SPF record only (two SPF records make SPF fail) and one DMARC record. Then run ⋮ → Check DNS Records again (Deliverability check).
The 5-second check
Send an email from your mailbox to a Gmail address and open it.
- Your photo or initial next to the sender: Gmail could confirm it was you.
- A grey question mark or "via another-domain": Gmail could not match the email to your domain. A record is missing or does not match.
To see the details: ⋮ (in the open email) → Show original. The top shows SPF, DKIM and DMARC with PASS or FAIL for each.
Watch your spam rate in Google Postmaster Tools
Google keeps score of every sending domain. For domains bought from us we already watch this every day (Gmail's spam rate and delivery errors per domain) and act when a domain slips, so there is nothing to set up. For a domain whose DNS you manage yourself, Google's free dashboard shows the same numbers:
- Go to postmaster.google.com and sign in with any Google account.
- Click +, type your sending domain (yourdomain.example) and copy the TXT record Google shows.
- Add that TXT record at your DNS provider.
- Back in Postmaster Tools click Verify. Data appears once you send to enough Gmail users (usually a few hundred emails a day).
What to look at:
- Spam rate: the share of your emails Gmail users marked as spam. Keep it under 0.1%; Google's hard line is 0.3%. Above it, more of your mail goes to spam.
- Domain reputation: High or Medium is fine; Low or Bad means stop and fix the list and the copy before sending more.
- Authentication: SPF, DKIM and DMARC should be close to 100%.
Keep the reputation high
- Warm up new mailboxes before the first campaign (Warmup) and ramp slowly: about 30 emails a day per mailbox at most (Outreach domains).
- Never send cold email from your main domain. Use separate outreach domains so your company email never pays for it.
- Send to verified addresses only and keep bounces under 2%.
- Make leaving easy. A person who cannot unsubscribe clicks Report spam, and every report raises your spam rate.
- Check the red flags on a campaign before you start it.
Common questions
My records are all green. Why do my emails still go to spam? The records only prove who you are. Gmail also weighs your domain's history and how people react: a new domain, a sudden jump in volume, many bounces or spam reports all push mail to spam. Warm up, ramp slowly and check your spam rate in Postmaster Tools. Run ⋮ → Run Deliverability Test to see where a real email lands today.
Does clicking "Not spam" help? Yes. Gmail learns from it, and future emails from that sender are more likely to reach the inbox. Ask a few colleagues to move your first emails out of spam; warmup does the same at scale.
Should I change DMARC to p=reject?
Not while the domain is new. quarantine already protects you from people faking your domain, and it never makes your own mail disappear without a trace if something is misconfigured.