How to Set Up DKIM for Google Workspace - Step-by-Step Guide

DKIM can boost your open rates. 🚀

How?

DKIM authenticates emails, so that email servers can verify the email's origin and confirm that it really came from the claimed domain.

If you only send authenticated emails, you’ll build trust with email service providers. This helps build your sender reputation.

With a better sender reputation, avoiding the spam folder is easier.

In short, anybody doing email outreach needs to set up their DKIM.

Here’s how to set up a DKIM record for Google Workspace.

What Is DKIM?

The DKIM authentication revolves around two keys: a public key and a private key.

When you add your DKIM, a public key is added to your domain’s DNS records.

This public key is shared with email servers whenever you send an email.

The server then checks your public key against the private key and if there’s a match the email gets authenticated and delivered to your recipients.

If authentication fails, the email then either gets delivered regularly, sent to the spam folder, or rejected altogether.

What happens to unauthenticated emails depends on the DMARC settings.

Setting Up Your DKIM Record in Google Workspace 🖊️

Getting your DKIM key in Google Admin Console 🗝️

1. In the Google Admin Console, go to menu.
2. Now go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail
3. Click on Authenticate email
4. In the Selected domain menu, select your domain
5. Click on Generate New Record
6. Choose your DKIM key settings on the Generate new record page
7. Click generate - the string under the TXT record value should now update to a new key
8. Copy the values in the Authenticate email windows. You need to add this to your domain provider’s DNS setting.

Adding your DKIM to your domain provider’s DNS records

After generating the DKIM in Google’s Admin Console, it’s now time to add it to your domain’s DNS records.

1. Log in to your domain provider’s account
2. Look for a setting called “DNS settings”, “DNS management”, or similar
3. Once inside, you should see a list of DNSs that have already been configured. Look for a button called “Add DNS record” or similar. Click on it.
4. In the form, for “host” or “hostname” and enter your TXT record name there
5. Then, in the “value” field, paste your DKIM record
6. Click Save

Turning on DKIM signing 🎛️

Almost ready.

Let’s go back to Google’s Admin Console to turn on DKIM signing.

1. Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail
2. Click on “Authenticate email”
3. In the “Selected domain” menu, select your domain
4. Now click on “Start authentication”
5. If all is well, you should now see the status at the top of the page changing to “Authenticating email”

Validating your DKIM

1. Send an email to a Gmail address that isn’t your own
2. In the recipient’s inbox, locate the message header. To find it, click on the “More” button and then “Show original”.
3. Look for the “Authentication-Results”. Now look for a line that says DKIM = pass or DKIM = OK. If there’s no mention of DKIM, that means the process failed.

If everything went well, you should now have your DKIM record set up.

If the process failed, repeat the steps and ensure you didn’t add extra spaces or characters.

Completing Your Technical Setup ☑️

Setting up DKIM is but one step in completing your technical setup.

Here are other essential components of your technical setup. Completing them all increases your chances of avoiding the spam folder.

• SPF records ✅
• MX Records ✅
• DMARC Records ✅
• Custom Tracking Domain ✅

Lastly, if your sending domain is new, you must warm up your email.

Warming an email manually would be a lengthy and tedious process.

That’s why email warm-up services exist.

lemwarm warms up your email by gradually increasing sending volume and frequency while also ensuring that your emails get replies.

By doing so, it builds up your sender reputation so more of your emails land in the inbox.

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