How to Authenticate Your Domain in SiteGround Email Marketing
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Authenticating your domain is required for sending email campaigns, as your domain will be used in the From field of the emails. By authenticating your domain with SiteGround Email Marketing, you acknowledge that emails sent by our servers are solicited and legitimate. This way, your recipients are reassured that the marketing emails are trustworthy and come from you.
How Domain Authentication Works and Why It Is Important
By authenticating it, your domain will be used in the From address of your marketing campaigns. This brings credibility to your campaigns as recipients can tell that the emails come from a genuine business.
Domain authentication is achieved through DNS verification with records in your domain’s DNS zone. SiteGround Email Marketing uses DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records to verify that its servers are legitimate senders of emails signed by your domain.
How to Authenticate Your Domain
Before you can send emails from SiteGround Email Marketing, you must authenticate your domain. That’s why when you open the Email Marketing application for the first time, you will see a notification “Domain authentication required.”
The first thing to do is choose the domain to send your marketing emails. For step-by-step instructions, read this guide on how to enter a sender domain in SiteGround Email Marketing.
Once you make your choice, click the Authenticate button.
The following pop-up window warns you that the process is irreversible. To start the authentication, press Confirm.
The follow-up authentication steps differ depending on whether you use SiteGround nameservers or external ones.
Authenticating a Domain Using SiteGround Nameservers
If your domain uses SiteGround nameservers, we will create the DKIM and SPF records in your DNS zone and confirm the authentication. While the authentication is ongoing, you will see the warning “Domain authentication in progress.”
You don’t need to do anything else. Just give it a few hours for the authentication to finish. Usually, it takes up to 1 hour, though the process can take up to 24 hours.
The DMARC record requires to assign a custom email address for receiving DMARC reports. Therefore, you must create the DMARC record on your own. You can easily set it up in your domain’s Site Tools > Domain >DNS Zone Editor.
You can find the detailed steps in this guide on how to configure a DMARC record for Email Marketing.
Authenticating a Domain Using External Nameservers
If your domain uses external nameservers, SiteGround Email Marketing will display a warning message saying “Domain authentication required” and list the required DNS CNAME record, which is the DKIM for the service. You’ll have to add the record in your external DNS zone.
Use the Copy button to copy the Name and Value of the CNAME record and create the record with these parameters in your DNS zone.
The Email Marketing tool will also notify you of the SPF and DMARC records you’ll have to add to your DNS zone. For more instructions, read the following guides.
- How to configure an SPF record for SiteGround Email Marketing
- How to configure a DMARC record for SiteGround Email Marketing
After you create the record, SiteGround Email Marketing will detect the record and complete the authentication.
Completing the Domain Authentication
While the authentication is in progress, you can prepare your contact list, create campaign drafts and groups, and edit your sender details. Once the domain is authenticated, you will receive a notification on your administrative email for your SiteGround account.
You can also monitor the Sender Details section in the SiteGround Email Marketing application. When the authentication is completed, you’ll see the message “Your sender domain is authenticated successfully!”
That’s it! Now SiteGround Email Marketing is ready to send your campaigns. Learn how to get started on creating campaigns in our guide on how to create a new campaign.