How to Set Up an SPF Record in Your OVH Account

SPF is an email authentication method that helps keep your emails out of the spam folder.

It adds a layer of security to your emails that internet service providers love.

With SPF configured for your domain, ISPs are more likely to send your emails to your audience’s inbox.

If OVH is your domain provider, here’s how to set up an SPF record in your OVH account:

Understanding SPF 🧠

SPF acts as a shield against email spoofing and subsequent cyber crimes like Phishing.

How?

You get to choose which email servers you authorize to send through your domain. Typically, you’ll want to add your email service provider’s server to the SPF.

If an email comes in with your domain as the sender, the receiving email will check your SPF record.

The authentication will fail if the sending server doesn’t correspond to the one(s) in your SPF record. When that happens, emails could get rejected based on your SPF and DMARC settings.

SPF is not mandatory, but the superior open rates and enhanced security should convince you to set it up.

How to Add an SPF Record to OVH 📝

Step 1: Check for existing SPF records ⬇️

The first thing to do is check if your domain already has an SPF record set up.

Multiple SPF records cause trouble when authenticating emails.

An SPF record looks like this:

v=spf1 include:spf.protection.someemailsender.com -all

The allowed email server can be found in the include tag.

Even though you can’t have multiple SPF records, adding multiple servers to the record is perfectly possible.

All you have to do is add additional include tags. Like this:

v=spf1 include:spf.protection.somesendingdomain.com  include:_spf.google.com -all

In this record, two servers are allowed to send email through your domain.

If all of this makes your head spin, don’t worry! Normally, your ESP will give you an SPF record to add to your domain’s DNS settings.

If, for example, you use Office 365 for email outreach, your SPF record may look like this:

v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all

Now, if you’ve been given this record but already have an SPF record set up, it’s even easier.

Just copy the include part (and IP addresses if present in your record) and paste it into your existing record. (It may be necessary to create a new record, but the process remains unchanged.)

Step 2: Add your SPF record to OVH ⬇️

1. ➡️ Log in to the OVH Control Panel
2. ➡️ Click on My Products and services
3. ➡️ Click on See all
4. ➡️ Now click on your domain
5. ➡️ Go to the DNS zone tab
6. ➡️ Click on Add an entry
7. ➡️ For Type choose TXT
8. ➡️ In Target, paste your SPF record. Since OVH doesn’t automatically append your domain, you must include it manually. This is how your SPF record should look like: yourdomain.com  TXT v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all
9. ➡️ Click save ✅

Step 3: Validating your SPF Record ⬇️

Your SPF record won’t be active immediately.

In fact, it could take as much as 48 for your record to be fully propagated.

You can use our free deliverability checker to periodically check if your record is active. It also checks other parts of your technical setup, like your MX, DKIM, and DMARC records.

If you’re just starting with email outreach or your open rates are tanking, make sure to warm up your email.

lemwarm is an email warm-up service that won a Reddit poll for best email warm-up tool.

It’ll take care of warming up your email while you concentrate on other important tasks.

It runs hands-off and can boost your open rates to 65% or better.