What is DMARC? Policies, alignment and reports explained
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is a DNS policy that tells receivers what to do with email that fails authentication for your domain, and asks them to send you reports.
A DMARC record is a TXT record at _dmarc.example.com, for example v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@example.com. It checks that SPF or DKIM passes and matches the domain in the visible From address (alignment).
The policy (p=) can be none (only monitor), quarantine (send failing mail to spam) or reject (refuse it). The usual path is to start with none, read the reports until every legitimate sender passes, and then move to quarantine and reject.
Since 2024, Gmail and Yahoo require bulk senders to publish SPF, DKIM and a DMARC record.
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Related
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework): SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS record that lists which servers are allowed to send email for a domain.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to each email so the receiver can check that it was sent by the domain and not changed on the way.
- Sender reputation: Sender reputation is how trustworthy mailbox providers consider your sending domain and IP address, based on how your past email was received.
- All glossary terms