Topics of this article
- Introduction
- Before you begin
- Step-by-step
- Frequently asked questions
To improve email deliverability, it is essential to authenticate your sender address and add our CNAME record to your domain's DNS.
What is authentication?
One of the things that most impact email deliverability is your sender address (ie. your "from" address).
Whenever you send out an email using E-goi, email providers (such as Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook.com) will notice that we're the ones doing the actual sending. To show them proof we've got your permission to do so, you need to authenticate your sender and add our CNAME record.
Authenticating involves making some changes to your domain's DNS. If this sounds complex, don't worry! We can do it for you for free
Before you begin
Requirements
Before starting authentication, make sure you have access to your domain's DNS. If you are not comfortable making these settings yourself, we can do it for you at no cost.
Step-by-step
Authenticating my email sender
1) Go to the upper right-corner menu and click Senders. If you haven't added a sender yet, do so now.
2) Once you've added the sender, click the Authenticate button alongside it.
3) A window will come up with three options:
- Set it up for me: Choosing this will pop open a form so you can tell us some things about your domain. We'll then take it from there and authenticate your domain and add E-goi's CNAME to it using the info you provided. It's usually done in a couple hours.
- Send a techie the how-to: If you'd rather have your hosting company authenticate the domain for you, just click here to send them our authentication how-to.
- I'll do it myself: Are you familiar with hosting settings? You shouldn't have any trouble following our instructions to authenticate your domain. Start by selecting the company the domain is hosted at and E-goi will pull up the entries you should add to your domain's DNS for SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Once you've saved the changes to your DNS, don't close the E-goi window! Wait until the changes have been propagated (if you've set a short TTL, it shouldn't take more than an hour). When you're sure the changes have gone live, click the Verify button in E-goi's window. If E-goi confirms all is good, SPF and DKIM should turn green. Otherwise, anything wrong in your settings will be displayed in red.
Authenticating on HostGator
Authenticating on GoDaddy
Authenticating on cPanel
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I confirm that my DNS changes have propagated?
Domain propagation over the Internet can take a few hours.
Check SPF propagation
1) Go to this SPF checker. Under "Domain name" enter the domain you're trying to authenticate in E-goi and click "Get SPF record (if any)". If the result doesn't include the SPF record E-goi asked you to add (and you're sure you did), propagation isn't finished yet.
2) You can also confirm this using the worldwide checker. Just type in your domain, select "TXT" in the record listing and hit "Search" to find out whether your SPF changes are live across multiple locations around the globe.
Check DKIM propagation
1) Go to this DKIM checker. Under "Check a published DKIM Core Key", type in "egoi" in "Selector". Then enter your domain in "Domain name" and click "Check". If the result doesn't include the DKIM record E-goi asked you to add (and you're sure you did), propagation isn't finished yet.
Check CNAME propagation
1) Go to this CNAME checker. Under "Domain name" enter the domain you've created in E-goi for your CNAME (it's usually "mkt." followed by your domain name; for example "mkt.example.com") and hit "CNAME lookup". If propagation has been finished, the "Canonical name" column will include the CNAME value which E-goi asked you to add.
2) You can also confirm this using the worldwide checker. Simply type in the same domain you've entered in the previous step, select "CNAME" on the record listing and click "Search" to find out whether your E-goi CNAME is live across multiple locations around the globe.
Is authenticating my sender in E-goi enough to improve email delivery?
Not necessarily. Authenticating and adding our CNAME are a big help, but how your contacts engage with your emails is equally important.
Can I authenticate my personal email address (eg. me@gmail.com)?
No, because freemail addresses were never meant for email marketing! You can only authenticate your email sender if the address is hosted in your own domain (eg. me@example.com).
Are there any additional settings after authentication?
Be sure to also add our CNAME to your domain. We can do it for you for free.
Should I add a DMARC entry to my domain as well?
Yes, as it's essential for Gmail and Yahoo delivery and will also increase your reputation with email services across the board. If you haven't set up DMARC yet, check out this how-to by Google.
My domain is private. How can I authenticate it?
You can only do it if your domain isn't private.
Keep in mind that major providers such as Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo will look sideways at any email traffic coming from private domains, as these are often a major source of spam!
This is why we only allow you to authenticate your domain and add our CNAME if you've got public WHOIS records. In case you don't know how to switch them from private to public, just ask the folks in charge of your domain hosting to do it for you.
We understand you may not want to disclose your personal contact info out to the world, but private domains will not only damage your deliverability but you even risk losing domain ownership! Some domain extensions can help you protect your info - if privacy is key, consider going for one of these.
I haven't got a clue about this authentication business at all. Please help!
Don't worry, we can set it up for you :) Just message us using the "Help" menu. We'll take it from there and also ensure your domain includes our CNAME.