Where do I publish a DKIM record?

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DKIM records are published in DNS as TXT records, at a specific subdomain that includes your selector. The format is:

selector._domainkey.yourdomain.com

So if your selector is s1 and your domain is deepcurrent.io, the record lives at s1._domainkey.deepcurrent.io.

Your ESP should give you the exact record to publish. When you set up DKIM with any major ESP, they'll provide either:

  • A TXT record value to publish at the above address (you create a TXT record with that subdomain and paste in their public key)
  • A CNAME record pointing to their infrastructure (some ESPs prefer this so they can rotate keys without you having to update DNS)

Go to wherever you manage your DNS (your domain registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap, or a DNS provider like Cloudflare), create the new record using the values your ESP provided, and save it.

One thing that trips people up: the "Name" or "Host" field in your DNS settings. Don't include your domain name in that field. Your DNS provider adds it automatically. So if the record should live at s1._domainkey.deepcurrent.io, you'd enter s1._domainkey in the Name field, not the full subdomain.

After publishing, give DNS a few minutes to propagate and then verify with our free DKIM checker (you'll need to enter your selector). If you're not sure what your selector is, check your ESP's documentation or look at the DKIM-Signature header in one of your sent emails: the s= field is the selector.

For context on why DKIM records need a selector in the path, see what a DKIM selector is. If you also need to set up SPF, that's a separate record at your root domain.

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I read this on the Email Almanac about where to publish a DKIM record. My situation: I'm setting up DKIM for my domain using my ESP. My ESP gave me [describe: a TXT record to publish / a CNAME to point to their infrastructure / instructions I don't fully understand]. My DNS is managed by registrar or DNS provider. What I want help with: confirming the exact DNS entry I need to create and verifying it's working after I publish it.

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