Free tools / Relay
Why are your emails landing in spam?
Type your domain or email address. We check MX, SPF, DMARC and DKIM in one go and tell you exactly what to fix.
- Looking up mail servers (MX)
- Reading SPF and DMARC
- Trying common DKIM names
The four records that decide where your email lands
| Record | What it does | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| MX | Says which servers receive email for your domain. | Missing after a website move, so nobody can email you. |
| SPF | Lists the services allowed to send as you. | Two SPF records, or more than 10 lookups, which breaks it for every email. |
| DKIM | Signs each email so the receiver knows it is genuine. | Never switched on in Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Titan. |
| DMARC | Tells mail servers what to do when checks fail, and reports back. | Missing completely, which Gmail and Yahoo now penalise. |
A safe order to fix things
- Make sure there is exactly one SPF record, and that it includes every service that sends email for you (your mailbox provider, your website, your newsletter tool, your booking system).
- Switch on DKIM in your email provider's admin panel. It gives you a record to add at your domain provider.
- Add a DMARC record starting with p=none and a rua= address, so you get reports without blocking anything.
- After two to four weeks of clean reports, change p=none to p=quarantine.
Why this matters for a small business
Quotes, invoices and booking confirmations are the emails that make you money. If they land in spam, customers think you never replied. Fixing these records takes about half an hour and costs nothing.
Questions
What are MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC?
MX records say which servers receive your email. SPF lists the servers allowed to send it. DKIM adds a signature that proves an email was not changed. DMARC tells other mail servers what to do when SPF or DKIM fail, and sends you reports.
Why do my emails go to spam?
The most common reasons are a missing or broken SPF record, no DKIM signature, and no DMARC record. Since 2024 Gmail and Yahoo have required all three from anyone sending email in bulk, and they filter harder against everyone else too.
Is it safe to run this on any domain?
Yes. These records are public by design. Anyone's mail server reads them every time an email arrives.
Why did DKIM come back as not found?
A DKIM record sits under a name that your email provider picks, called a selector. We try the common ones. If yours uses an unusual name, we will miss it even though it works. Your provider's admin panel will show it.
How long do changes take?
Usually minutes, sometimes up to a few hours, depending on your domain provider.
Want Relay on this every day?
On Lupaan your whole team works in the background and tells you when something needs you.