Domain health and Gmail reputation
Check your sending domain's SPF, DKIM, DMARC and blocklists, and see what Google thinks of it.
Two things decide whether your emails land in the inbox before anyone reads a word: whether your domain is set up to prove the email really came from you, and what reputation it has earned. Pedibee checks both from Settings → Email account.
Domain health
Click Check domain health next to a Gmail account. Pedibee looks up the sending domain's DNS and reports:
| Check | What it should be | Why |
|---|---|---|
| MX | Records exist | The domain can receive mail (replies, bounces). |
| SPF | A TXT record including _spf.google.com | Says Google may send for your domain. |
| DKIM | Google's key at google._domainkey | Lets receivers verify the email wasn't altered. Turn it on in the Google Admin console. |
| DMARC | A _dmarc TXT record with a policy | Tells receivers what to do when SPF/DKIM fail, and that you care. |
| Blocklists | Not listed on Spamhaus DBL or SURBL | A listing means your domain is being treated as a spam source. |
Each failed check comes with the fix in plain words. The latest result stays on the account page. Up to 10 checks an hour per person. Shared providers (a plain @gmail.com) are skipped, since their records aren't yours to change.
Do this before your first campaign
SPF, DKIM and DMARC take minutes to set up and are the single biggest deliverability win. Run the check after any DNS change.
Gmail reputation (Postmaster Tools)
Google publishes its own view of every domain that emails Gmail users. To see it in Pedibee:
- Verify your domain at postmaster.google.com (add the TXT record it gives you).
- In Settings → Email account, click Connect Postmaster next to the Gmail account and sign in with the Google account that did the verification. Pedibee asks only for read access to Postmaster data.
- Click Refresh to load the last 30 days: spam rate, delivery error rate, and authentication success for SPF, DKIM and DMARC, plus Google's compliance status.
A spam rate under 0.1% is healthy; over 0.3% and Google starts filtering you. If the refresh says the domain isn't verified for that account, verify it in Postmaster Tools first. Disconnecting the Gmail account removes the Postmaster connection too. Our guide to reading Postmaster Tools v2 compliance status explains each figure and what to fix.
Related
- Warm-up
- Email tracking: your tracking domain also needs a DNS record.