What is email deliverability? DMARC, DKIM, SPF?

​What are email deliverability records?
DMARC, DKIM, and SPF are email authentication protocols that help protect email senders and recipients from spam, phishing, and other fraudulent activities.

DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance. It is a protocol that allows domain owners to specify which mechanisms (DKIM, SPF, or both) are employed for authenticating email messages that they send. DMARC also provides a way for domain owners to receive feedback about the successful or failed delivery of messages that claim to be from their domain.

DKIM stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail. It is a protocol that uses public key cryptography to authenticate the source of an email message. DKIM is typically used to verify that an email message was not altered during transit and that it actually came from the purported sender.

SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework. It is a protocol that allows domain owners to specify which IP addresses are authorized to send email messages on behalf of their domain. SPF is designed to detect and prevent email spoofing, which is a technique used by spammers and phishers to forge the sender's address in an email message.

What do these records actually do?
DMARC, DKIM, and SPF records help protect email senders and recipients from spam, phishing, and other fraudulent activities.
To put it simply, these records verify that an email is actually sent from the domain it claims to be sent from and that it was not tampered with during transit. This helps prevent email spoofing, where spammers and phishers forge the sender's address in an email message.
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Domain owners can configure these records in their DNS settings to specify which mechanisms are employed for authenticating email messages. These records help ensure that email messages are legitimate and not fraudulent, which helps protect both the sender and recipient.

How are these records configured?
To configure these records, domain owners must access their DNS (Domain Name System) settings and create the necessary DNS records. For DMARC, a DNS TXT record must be created with the DMARC policy information. For DKIM, a DNS TXT record must be created with the public key information. For SPF, a DNS TXT record must be created with the list of authorized IP addresses. The specific configuration steps may vary depending on the email service provider and DNS hosting service being used.

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