DKIM

Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a technology that helps reduce spam and phishing. It allows companies to vouch for their email messages. Technically, this can be done using a cryptographic signature linked to a domain name instead of the traditional IP address.

In this article, we’ll discuss reasons for setting up DKIM records, compare DKIM with other email authentication methods, and provide a guide for setting it up for your business.

Why should you set up DKIM records?

You can use several email authentication methods for your business, so you might wonder why you should set up DKIM first. In this section, we’ll explore the benefits you can unlock by setting up DKIM records. DKIM helps you achieve the following:

• Authenticate your email campaigns. By using a digital signature and a public key, DKIM verifies that the email is authorized and ensures that the content remains unchanged during transmission. This process helps establish your email server as trustworthy and safeguards the integrity of your messages.
• Protect your domain’s reputation. While using DKIM, you can be sure that no one else can send emails from your domain. This email authentication method allows recipients to be sure that the emails they receive are legitimate and fraud-free. As a result, they can trust your email sender and continue interacting with your messages. Setting up DKIM helps protect your domain reputation from scammers and other fraudulent activities.
• Improve email deliverability. Since email providers always check emails for DKIM authentication to determine whether these messages can be trusted, it’s an essential part of your email marketing strategy. When your emails are protected with DKIM, Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft will help you get into recipients’ inboxes rather than getting stuck in spam. Well-configured DKIM prevents your emails from being marked as spam and ensures they reach your recipients. This will result in higher email delivery rates. When your emails are protected and contain nothing malicious, they will seamlessly go directly to your subscribers.
• Align with modern email security standards. DKIM is a must if you want to comply with email security requirements. It operates alongside SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) to seamlessly authenticate emails. It’s necessary because email providers like Google and Yahoo prefer emails with valid DKIM signatures. Unsigned emails can sometimes even be blocked.
• Prevent changes to email content. With DKIM, you can be sure that your email copy remains unaltered. It helps you retain everything in your email, including attachments, during transit and avoid any modifications. DKIM records allow you to prevent different types of attacks, fraud, and spam.

Now that you know how DKIM records enable you to protect your email messages and ensure they are from a reliable source, it’s time to compare it with other email authentication methods. This will help you figure out the benefits each carries.

DKIM vs Other Email Authentication Methods (SPF & DMARC)

When you have email marketing as a part of your business strategy, you must ensure the security, reliability, and trustworthiness of your email domain. This and others can be ensured with the help of email authentication methods like DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. However, you should know how they operate and what areas of your email campaigns they protect. So let’s review each of these protocols in detail.

• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). This email authentication protocol uses cryptographic signatures to ensure that email content remains intact and hasn’t been altered during transmission. By adding a digital signature to the email header, DKIM proves that the messages were sent from the claimed sender domain. This not only boosts email deliverability but also reduces the likelihood of your email campaigns being flagged as spam. As a result, more of your emails will reach the intended recipients, increasing the chances of engaging your subscribers.
• SPF (Sender Policy Framework). It enables a domain owner to determine which IP addresses have the right to deliver emails from that domain. Once you send emails to recipients, their email servers check SPF records to make sure that the IP addresses are authorized to do so. When there are errors during the checks, these emails can be flagged as spam or even rejected. This framework focuses on the authentication of IP addresses.
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance). This framework combines the principles of DKIM and SPF. With its help, domain owners can figure out how issues identified during DKIM and SPF checks should be addressed. By exploring the results of these checks in reports, you’ll always be able to solve these problems and reach recipients. Moreover, DMARC allows you to avoid email spoofing and phishing because your messages are accepted only when they meet the requirements.

Now that you understand how to use one of these three protocols and know that DKIM suits you best, it’s time to learn how to set it up.

How to set up DKIM records?

Setting up DKIM records enables you to ensure the security of your email messages, maintain your IP address reputation, and prevent any kind of scam. If you are thinking about securing your emails this way, it’s necessary to check out this short step-by-step guide.

1. Generate a DKIM key pair. Usually, email service providers like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 generate the keys automatically. However, when they don’t, you can use special platforms like OpenSSL or online DKIM key generators. The key pair they generate consists of a private key and a public key. You need a private key for your email server to sign emails you send to recipients. A public key is necessary for servers that receive messages to make sure that the signature is valid. When you use a service like SendPulse, you can easily create a digital signature and sign your email messages for better security.
2. Publish the DKIM public key in DNS. You need a public key to add it as a TXT record in your domain's DNS settings. To do this, sign in to your DNS hosting provider. Then, create a new TXT record and save it.
3. Activate DKIM in your email server. Then, configure your email service provider to send signed emails with a private key. The settings might vary depending on your provider, but you usually need to navigate to email authentication settings.
4. Check your DKIM configuration. After setting up DKIM records, you should ensure that everything operates smoothly. You can leverage various tools, such as DKIMValidator, MXToolbox DKIM Lookup, and Google Admin Toolbox. They will help you validate your DKIM record.
5. Keep an eye on your DKIM. To monitor DKIM performance and instantly identify problems, consider taking advantage of DMARC reports. You should also regularly update your keys to ensure a proper level of security for your email content, recipients, and IP addresses. Ensure that you are consistent across multiple service providers when using several. You should configure DKIM for all of them.

Overall, DKIM is a framework designed to help you ensure proper security and an excellent reputation. Using a digital signature allows you to maintain the integrity and immutability of email messages during transmission. As a result, you achieve higher email deliverability and experience fewer spam and phishing attempts.

Last Updated: 13.01.2025