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Keerthana S
Keerthana S

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Why Are Your Business Emails Landing in Spam? A Small DNS Change That Makes a Big Difference

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How DKIM, SPF and DMARC help businesses improve email deliverability and protect their domain reputation.

By Keerthana S | Cloud Engineer at Cloudmasa Innovation Lab

The Problem Nobody Noticed

Imagine sending an important business proposal to a client, only to discover that it landed in their spam folder.

The email was successfully sent. There was no bounce notification or delivery error. Everything appeared normal.

But the client never saw it.

This is a common problem for businesses using custom domain email addresses. Even when you use Google Workspace, your emails can end up in spam if your domain's email authentication is not configured properly.

At Cloudmasa Innovation Lab, we believe reliable digital infrastructure starts with getting the fundamentals right.

Explore our technology solutions at Cloudmasa Innovation Lab.

Why Do Business Emails Go to Spam?

Email providers like Gmail and Outlook perform background security checks whenever they receive an email.

They want to verify whether the sender is authorised to send emails from the domain they claim to represent.

Without proper authentication, receiving servers may struggle to distinguish genuine business emails from spoofed messages.

Three important technologies help solve this problem:

  • SPF: Identifies authorised email-sending servers.
  • DKIM: Verifies the digital signature attached to an email.
  • DMARC: Defines how receiving servers should handle messages that fail authentication and alignment checks.

Let's understand how they work.

1. DKIM – Your Email's Digital Signature

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) works like a digital seal attached to an email.

When Google Workspace sends an email, it uses a private key to generate a digital signature.

The receiving server checks this signature against the public key published in your domain's DNS records.

If the verification succeeds, the receiving server can confirm that the signed message has not been altered and that the signature matches the published key.

How to enable DKIM in Google Workspace:

  1. Open Google Admin Console.
  2. Navigate to Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Authenticate email.
  3. Select your domain.
  4. Generate a new record using a 2048-bit key.
  5. Add the generated TXT record to your domain's DNS settings.
  6. Return to Google Admin Console and click Start authentication.

Once configured correctly, Google Workspace can start signing outgoing emails with DKIM.

2. SPF – Who Can Send Emails From Your Domain?

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) tells receiving servers which email systems are authorised to send messages on behalf of your domain.

For example, a typical Google Workspace SPF record looks like this:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

This record authorises Google's mail servers to send emails for your domain.

If you use multiple email services, make sure all legitimate sending sources are included in one SPF record.

Important: Never create multiple SPF records for the same domain.

3. DMARC – Protecting Your Domain From Email Spoofing

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) works with SPF and DKIM.

It allows domain owners to define how receiving servers should handle emails that fail authentication checks.

A basic monitoring record looks like this:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com

There are three common DMARC policies:

  • p=none – Monitor email authentication without requesting enforcement.
  • p=quarantine – Request that failing messages be treated as suspicious.
  • p=reject – Request rejection of messages that fail DMARC evaluation.

Start with monitoring, review your email sources, and gradually move towards stronger protection.

Proper email authentication is one important part of building a secure digital presence. Discover more about our work at Cloudmasa Innovation Lab.

What Should You Check After Configuration?

After configuring SPF, DKIM and DMARC, inspect your outgoing email headers.

Ideally, you should see:

  • spf=pass
  • dkim=pass
  • dmarc=pass

These results indicate that the corresponding authentication checks passed.

Remember, authentication alone cannot guarantee inbox delivery. Email content, domain reputation, sending behaviour, and recipient engagement also matter.

Final Thoughts

Business email is more than just a communication tool. It represents your company's professionalism and reliability.

A missed proposal, quotation, or customer follow-up can become a missed business opportunity.

If your business uses Google Workspace with a custom domain, take a few minutes to review your SPF, DKIM and DMARC configurations.

These small DNS changes can make a meaningful difference in email security and deliverability.

Build Smarter Digital Solutions With Cloudmasa

At Cloudmasa Innovation Lab, we focus on technology, cloud infrastructure, automation, and innovative digital solutions that help businesses grow.

Want to explore what we do?

Visit our official website: https://cloudmasa.com

Cloudmasa Innovation Lab – Building Smarter Digital Experiences.

Author: Keerthana S

Cloud Engineer | Cloudmasa Innovation Lab

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