---
title: Turn on SPF and DKIM for your domain
description: "Use cPanel's Email Deliverability screen to set up SPF and DKIM records so mail from your domain stops landing in spam folders."
date: 2026-06-16
updated: 2026-06-16
tags: [email, deliverability]
url: "https://drivenhost.com/kb/kb-spf-dkim-setup"
author: DrivenHost
---

If mail from your domain keeps landing in spam, or bounces with messages about authentication, SPF and DKIM are almost always the fix. The good news is that cPanel's Email Deliverability screen does nearly all the work for you. This guide shows you where to click and how to confirm it worked. You need your cPanel login, and it helps if your domain's DNS is managed here with us; if your DNS lives elsewhere, you can still follow along, you will just paste two records into that other control panel at the end.

## What these records actually are

SPF is a DNS record that lists which servers are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain, so receiving mail servers can reject forgeries. DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to each outgoing message, and a matching DNS record lets the receiver verify the message really came from you and was not altered in transit. Together they are the baseline that major mail providers now expect before they will reliably deliver your mail to the inbox.

## Fix both records in one screen

1. Log in to cPanel and open Email Deliverability, under the Email section.
2. Find your domain in the list. If everything is already in order you will see a Valid status next to both DKIM and SPF, and you can stop here.
3. If you see Problems Exist, click Repair Now (or the Repair button beside the domain).
4. cPanel shows you the suggested records. If your DNS is hosted with us, just confirm, and cPanel writes the records into your zone automatically.
5. Wait for the status to change. DNS changes are not instant; give it up to an hour, then revisit the screen and check that both rows show Valid.

If your DNS is hosted somewhere else (for example, at your registrar or behind a CDN), cPanel cannot write the records for you. Click Manage next to the domain, copy the SPF value and the DKIM name and value it displays, and create those as TXT records at your DNS provider exactly as shown.

## Confirm it worked

1. The Email Deliverability screen itself is the first check: both SPF and DKIM should read Valid.
2. For a real-world test, send a message from your domain to a Gmail address you control. Open the message, choose Show original from the message menu, and look for spf=pass and dkim=pass in the headers.
3. If both pass, you are done. Deliverability reputations recover gradually, so a domain that was landing in spam may take a little while to earn its way back to the inbox even after the records are correct.

## If it didn't work

- The status stays at Problems Exist after repairing. Your DNS is probably hosted elsewhere, so the automatic fix silently could not apply. Check where your nameservers point and add the records there manually.
- SPF fails only for some messages. You are sending from a service (a newsletter tool, a CRM) that is not in your SPF record. Add that service's include to the record rather than creating a second SPF record; a domain must only ever have one.
- DKIM passes but mail still goes to spam. Authentication is necessary, not sufficient. Check your content, your sending volume, and whether your domain was previously abused.

Need a second pair of eyes on your records? Open a ticket at /support and we'll review them with you.