Email Deliverability Checker: Test and Improve Your Email Delivery

An email deliverability checker tests whether your domain's DNS configuration is set up correctly for email. Poor configuration is the most common reason emails land in spam — and it is entirely fixable once you know what is wrong.

How to Check Email Deliverability

1. Go to Tools → Email Deliverability Tester.
2. Enter your domain name (e.g., example.com).
3. Enter your DKIM selector if you know it (find it in your email provider's settings — common values: google, selector1, k1, mail).
4. Click Test.
5. Review results for SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and MX.

What Gets Tested

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

SPF is a TXT record at your domain root listing which mail servers and services are authorized to send email from your domain.

What the checker verifies:

• Does an SPF record exist?
• Is the syntax correct?
• Does it include your email provider?
• Are there too many DNS lookups? (SPF is limited to 10)
• Is the policy strict enough (~all vs -all)?

Pass: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all Fail: No TXT record starting with v=spf1 found

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to outbound emails. The receiving server verifies the signature using a public key in your DNS.

What the checker verifies:

• Does the DKIM TXT record exist at the specified selector?
• Is the public key valid and properly formatted?
• Is the key size adequate? (2048-bit recommended, 1024-bit is minimum)

Pass: Valid TXT record at selector._domainkey.yourdomain.com Fail: No record found at selector

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication)

DMARC is a policy record at _dmarc.yourdomain.com that tells receiving servers what to do when SPF or DKIM fails.

What the checker verifies:

• Does a DMARC record exist?
• What policy is set? (none, quarantine, or reject)
• Is a reporting email configured?

Recommended progression:

1. Start: p=none (monitor without blocking)
2. After reviewing reports: p=quarantine (send failures to spam)
3. Final: p=reject (reject failures outright)

MX Records

MX records specify which servers handle inbound email for your domain.

What the checker verifies:

• Do MX records exist?
• Do MX hostnames resolve to valid IPs?
• Is there redundancy? (Multiple MX records with different priorities)

Pass: At least one MX record pointing to a valid mail server Fail: No MX records, or MX hostnames do not resolve

Deliverability Score

The checker produces a score out of 100:

Check	Points
SPF valid	25
DKIM valid	25
DMARC policy quarantine or reject	25
DMARC reporting configured	10
Multiple MX records	15

Score under 75: Significant deliverability risk — emails likely landing in spam. Score 75-90: Good configuration, minor improvements available. Score 90+: Excellent — fully configured for maximum deliverability.

Common Fixes

No SPF record

Add a TXT record at your domain root. For Google Workspace: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

SPF too many DNS lookups

Use an SPF flattening tool to convert nested includes into a flat list of IP addresses.

No DKIM

Enable DKIM in your email provider's admin console. They will provide the TXT record to add to your DNS.

No DMARC

Add a TXT record at _dmarc.yourdomain.com: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]

No MX records

Add MX records per your email provider's documentation.

Ongoing Monitoring

Email configuration can drift — records get accidentally removed, providers change their required DNS setup. Set up automated email deliverability monitoring:

1. Add your domain to ElasticDomain.
2. Full domain scans include email record checks.
3. Set up an alert for DNS changes (any change to TXT records containing SPF/DKIM/DMARC values or to MX records triggers an alert).

Catching a broken SPF record the same day it breaks saves you from days of missed emails.