Why Email Authentication Matters
If your emails end up in spam, candidates won’t see them — no matter how great your message is. To make sure your emails actually land in inboxes, email providers (like Gmail and Outlook) need to know that you’re a real sender, not a spammer pretending to be you. That’s where SPF, DKIM, and DMARC come in.
What These Mean (In Plain English)
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) tells email systems which servers are allowed to send emails from your company’s domain — kind of like a guest list for your email.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to your emails so providers can confirm the message really came from you and wasn’t changed on the way.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) ties it all together — it tells Gmail and Outlook what to do if an email fails the checks, and helps protect your brand from impersonation.
Setting these up correctly improves deliverability, trust, and open rates. It’s one of the most effective ways to make sure your outreach messages reach candidates’ inboxes instead of getting lost in spam.
These protections aren’t automatic — you need to turn them on for your domain. Once set up, they help your emails look trusted and reach more inboxes.
How to Set Them Up - the official guides by Google & Microsoft:
For Gmail / Google Workspace:
For Outlook / Microsoft 365:
Once this is done, your domain will look legitimate to email providers — meaning your outreach emails are far more likely to land safely in inboxes, where candidates can actually see (and respond to) them
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