Authenticate Emails and Protect Your Domain

Check your DKIM records with Smartlead. Validate DNS TXT records, stop email spoofing, and boost deliverability. No sign-up needed.

Boost deliverability and prevent spoofing  with a verified DKIM Record

A missing or invalid DKIM record leaves your domain open to spoofing and phishing attacks. Without DKIM, inbox providers can’t verify that your emails are authentic, which hurts deliverability and trust.

Smartlead’s DKIM Record Checker instantly validates your DNS TXT record, ensuring your domain is securely signing outgoing messages.

SPF record generator

Ensure you send emails only through your authorized servers and reduce spoofing risks while improving deliverability.

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DKIM record generator

Check if DKIM records are set up correctly for your domain. Ensure your email authentication policies protect your domain.

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How to verify your DKIM records in  3 simple steps

What is DKIM and why does it matter?

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an essential email authentication method that uses a cryptographic signature to verify that an email is sent from an authorized source and hasn’t been altered in transit.

When your domain’s DKIM record is correctly set up, it prevents spoofing and protects your emails from phishing attacks, ensuring that inbox providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook trust your emails.

Without DKIM, your emails are more likely to be flagged as spam, resulting in poor deliverability and a damaged sender reputation.

A typical DMARC record looks something like this:

Prevent Email Spoofing: Ensure only authorized sources can send emails from your domain.

Boost Deliverability: DKIM helps inbox providers trust your emails, improving the chances they land in the inbox.

Protect Your Brand: Guard your domain against impersonation and safeguard your reputation.

Real-world scenarios where DKIM validation is essential

Protect sensitive data in customer communications

When sending sensitive customer information, like account details, invoices, or passwords, emails must be authenticated. DKIM validation ensures that only authorized senders can communicate on behalf of your domain, preventing email spoofing and safeguarding sensitive data.

Strengthen email security for remote teams

As remote work becomes more common, email security is more important than ever. Validating DKIM records ensures that all emails from your team, whether internal or client-facing, are properly authenticated, reducing the risk of malicious attacks or impersonation.

Build trust with clients and partners

A validated DKIM record sends a message of trust to your clients and partners. It assures them that emails from your domain are authentic, which is vital for maintaining strong business relationships. It’s a simple but powerful way to demonstrate your commitment to security and professionalism.

Ensure compliance with industry regulations

In regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and legal services, email security is more than just a best practice — it’s a compliance requirement. DKIM validation helps your business meet regulatory standards, ensuring that email communications are safe, verifiable, and legally compliant.

Avoid being flagged by Sspam filters

Without DKIM, your emails may be flagged by spam filters, preventing them from reaching their intended recipients. By regularly validating DKIM records, you reduce the chances of your emails being mistakenly marked as spam, improving deliverability and protecting your domain’s reputation.

Safeguard your brand from phishing attacks

Phishing scams often use email spoofing to trick recipients into believing they’re receiving legitimate communications. A properly configured DKIM record verifies that emails sent from your domain are trustworthy, protecting your brand’s reputation and preventing attackers from exploiting your name.

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What our customers say

Bojan Najdov

Founder, Lambda Group

“The best outbound email marketing software. Customer support - they are so responsive and helpful Features - you can add multiple email domains to the same account.”

David Borman

Senior Account Executive, Key Outreach

"Intuitive. Game-Changing. POWERFUL. Analytics, spintax, A/B testing, quick personalization. This is a game changer if you send cold email campaign. Grateful to this team for building a product that has changed our day to day. 🚀"

Eden Einav

Account Executive, B.I.G. Charity Law Group Professional Corporation

“Hands down the best cold email software. Smartlead is amazing, this is the best tool if you want to cold email at scale and land in the inbox. The team is super responsive with great support. While there is a learning curve to cold email, they really built a great foundation to make it as simple as possible. I am sending over 2k emails a day!!! absolute game changer for my business.”

Ryane Tully

Co-founder, Pitchlane

“Innovative, reliable, and Suitable For Technical and Non-Technical Users. SmartLead's ability to help me land in the primary inbox and automate the laborious parts of my workflow is brilliant. The customer support is incredibly good, I've had some great feedback on my cold email campaigns.”

Romain Osman

Co-Founder, Five Element

“Smartlead is an absolute game-changer! With its exceptional features and support from the Smartlead team, I've experienced remarkable success. The customizable platform and cost-effective pricing have revolutionized our cold emailing game. I would rate it 10 out of 10 for satisfaction. A must-have tool for any B2B agency!”

Reggie B.

Sales Director - Financial Institution Solutions Saggezza, Inc.

“Smartlead is an innovative cold email platform that helps me reach out to potential clients. There are easy-to-use templates, powerful automation tools, and intuitive analytics for email warming and campaign analytics. It provides me with everything I need to maximize my cold email campaigns.”

Nick A.

Founder, Leadbird.io

“I've personally built a sales engagement platform similar to Smartlead, and I am genuinely blown away by the scalability, functionality and more. We're a B2B Lead Gen Agency, and we primarily use cold email to generate leads for our clients. We're on track to double our best month in terms of client results.”

Mykyta

CEO, Yell Cut

"I can upload hundreds of email accounts, send thousands of cold emails per day, and still have an organized master inbox. This is unseen with any other tool on the market today. I looked..."

Dino Knezovic

Founder, Office Optim

“Smartlead has been extremely helpful with seamlessly onboarding clients, warming up their accounts, and prepping campaigns to send at high volumes while maintaining high deliverability. There are multiple features that allow me to track performance over time and understand when it is time for me to make adjustments, and Vaibhav is constantly making improvements/upgrades to the platform which gives me all the more faith in the future of this great tool.”

Johannes Fessler

CEO, Rock Solid Lead Generation

“Smartlead is absolutely amazing! The software is easy to understand I am not a techie but directly understand everything and if you really have a question the team always helps instantly. Additionally I love all the features. Like I said for me as a lead generation agency the software gives me everything I need and much more.”

René-Karl Lambert

Founder, WindGrowth

“Smartlead is simply amazing. They constantly improve their product and bring new features that make the cold email software even more complete. If you're a big automation enthusiast like me, there are no other cold email tools on the market that allow you to 100% automate your business as Smartlead does.”

Lucas Maliczak

Outbound Lead & Partner, Peakora

“Our campaigns weren't just about reaching out, but reaching out right, and Smartlead helped us achieve this. It has added immense value to our business by prioritizing email deliverability and customer needs. I would rate it a 9 out of 10”

Romain Osman

Co-Founder, Five Element

“Smartlead is an absolute game-changer! With its exceptional features and support from the Smartlead team, I've experienced remarkable success. The customizable platform and cost-effective pricing have revolutionized our cold emailing game. I would rate it 10 out of 10 for satisfaction. A must-have tool for any B2B agency!”

Arnold Koci

CEO, Acquisizioneclienti.it

“Best cold outbound email software out there. Everything, is fast, reliable, scalable, you can also white-label, amazing analytics and never breaks like other similar competitors. Never once I went in spam in the last 4 months of using it.”

Cliff Coelho

Owner, Storydriven.video

“I just ended my 2 year search for the right cold emailing platform with Smartlead. A stand alone tool for cold emailing unlike anything else in the market. And it looks like they're only getting started. Now I can finally train my VAs on just one platform instead of bouncing between several like they used to for different things.”

Serdar Tufan

Owner, FunnelVision

“Best cold email tool in the game. Most user friendly cold email tool I've used to date. Super easy to set up, love the bulk upload feature to add multiple domains at once and support is impeccable. They respond so fast it's unreal. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.”

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Frequently asked questions

How Does A DKIM Record Check Differ From An SPF Record Check?
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SPF checks authorized email senders based on IP addresses. DKIM verifies the email content hasn't been tampered with using digital signatures.

Is A DKIM Record Difficult To Set Up?
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The technical setup might require some expertise. However, many email service providers offer user-friendly interfaces or instructions for configuring DKIM records.

What Are The Benefits Of Using DKIM?
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DKIM enhances email security by verifying the authenticity of the sender and ensuring email integrity. It helps protect against phishing and spoofing attacks, improves deliverability, and safeguards your domain's reputation.

How Do I Fix A Failed DKIM Record?
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Address failed DKIM records by reviewing DNS entries for errors or mismatches in DKIM selectors or keys. Correct any discrepancies and update the DKIM record accordingly to ensure proper email authentication.

Can I Use Smartlead DKIM Record Lookup Tool To Monitor My DKIM Health Over Time?
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Yes, Smartlead’s DKIM record lookup tool can track DKIM configuration changes and verify DKIM records regularly. This helps ensure ongoing email authentication integrity and identifies any issues promptly.

How To Lookup DKIM Records Manually?
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Manually look up DKIM records by accessing your domain’s DNS settings through your DNS provider or hosting platform. Search for TXT records named <selector>._domainkey.yourdomain.com.

How Many DKIM Records Can I Have?
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There is no strict limit to the number of DKIM records you can have, but each should correspond to a unique selector and key pair. Use separate DKIM records for different email sources or subdomains within your organization for optimal security and authentication.

Do I Need Both SPF And DKIM For Email Security?
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While each offers distinct benefits, using both SPF and DKIM provides a more robust email authentication system.

I use a DKIM Record. Why am I Still Getting Emails About Failed DKIM Checks?
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There could be a few reasons for this:

1. Incorrect Configuration: Double-check your DKIM record for any typos or errors in syntax.
2. Propagation Delay: Changes to DNS can take some time to propagate across the Internet. Be patient after making edits to your DKIM record.
3. Third-Party Sending Services: If you use a third-party service to send emails on your behalf, ensure their configuration aligns with your DKIM record.

If you're still facing issues after addressing these potential causes, consider getting in touch with your email service or hosting provider.

Where Do I Find My DKIM Public Key?
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Your DKIM public key is stored in a DKIM record published in your domain's DNS settings. Look for a TXT record named <selector>._domainkey.yourdomain.com.

Do I Need A Separate DKIM Record For Each Subdomain?
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Yes, it's recommended to have separate DKIM records for each subdomain. This practice maintains email security and allows distinct email sources within your domain to be authenticated individually.

What Are Some Common Mistakes People Make When Setting Up DKIM?
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Common mistakes include incorrect DKIM record formatting, mismatched selectors or keys, incomplete DNS entries, and failing to update records after key rotation. Careful setup and regular monitoring mitigate these issues.

How To Check The DKIM Record In Your DNS?
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Check your DKIM record by querying your domain’s DNS for a TXT record named selector>._domainkey.yourdomain.com. Ensure it contains the correct DKIM public key and other necessary details.