Email deliverability means your messages reach the inbox, not just leave your server. When genuine mail from your domain lands in spam, the cause is usually missing or broken authentication records (SPF, DKIM and DMARC), a website form that sends mail the wrong way, or what and how much you send.
This guide is for mailboxes included with a hosting plan (cPanel, DirectAdmin, Webuzo or Plesk). Business Email is a separate product with its own records and webmail at mail.yourdomain.com:8443. Not sure which you have? See Business Email vs the email included with your hosting.
Make sure your domain has one SPF record, a DKIM key and a DMARC record, using the values your control panel gives you (in cPanel: Email › Email Deliverability). If your DNS is hosted elsewhere, such as Cloudflare, copy those values there yourself. Make website forms send from an address on your own domain. Then test with a mail-testing service. The step-by-step fix is in Emails going to spam: how to fix it.
1. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC
| Record | What it does | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| SPF | Lists the servers allowed to send mail for your domain | One TXT record on the domain itself |
| DKIM | Signs each message so receivers can check it was not changed | A TXT record at selector._domainkey |
| DMARC | Tells receivers what to do when SPF and DKIM fail, and where to send reports | A TXT record at _dmarc |
- cPanel: open Email › Email Deliverability. It shows whether SPF and DKIM are valid for each domain, gives the exact records, and can repair them when your DNS is on our servers. DKIM is on by default for new cPanel accounts and uses the selector
default. - DirectAdmin: DKIM uses the selector
x, and most domains already have a key. See checking and managing DKIM in DirectAdmin. - Webuzo and Plesk (Windows): if you can't find the SPF or DKIM value in the panel, ask support for it.
Use the SPF value your panel gives you rather than a copied template. Start DMARC in monitoring mode, then tighten it once reports show everything passing:
_dmarc.yourdomain.com TXT "v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]"A domain may have exactly one TXT record that starts with v=spf1. If you also send through Google Workspace, a CRM or a newsletter service, add each one's include: to the same record. Two SPF records make SPF fail for everything.
The records in depth are in SPF, DKIM and DMARC for hosting email.
2. Fix website contact forms
A form that sends "from" the visitor's own address through your server fails authentication every time. Send from an address on your own domain, such as [email protected], and put the visitor's address in Reply-To.
On our cPanel servers, PHP scripts can't use SMTP, because the socket functions it needs are disabled. Send with PHP mail() and the -f sender option instead, as shown in PHP sendmail settings and using PHPMailer for contact forms. On DirectAdmin, SMTP from scripts is blocked too, so use mail() there as well.
3. Send the right kind of mail
- Use real sender details and a From name people recognise.
- Keep lists clean. Remove addresses that bounce, and only mail people who asked to hear from you.
- Add a working unsubscribe link to anything promotional.
- Mind the limits. Hosting email allows 200 messages per hour per account on cPanel and 1,000 per day on DirectAdmin. Newsletters and bulk mail belong on a dedicated newsletter service, not on shared hosting.
4. Test and check
- Send a test.Send a real message from your mailbox to a testing service such as mail-tester.com, and to Gmail and Outlook.com addresses you control.
- Read the headers.In Gmail, open Show original: SPF, DKIM and DMARC should all say PASS.
- Fix what failsin DNS first, then test again.
- If a bounce mentions a blocklist, or a checker such as MXToolbox lists the server's IP, open a ticket with the full bounce message. Shared hosting IP addresses can't be changed; support can look at the listing and what caused it.
The full testing method is in how to test email deliverability for your own website.
Why do my emails go to spam?
Usually because SPF, DKIM or DMARC is missing or wrong, a website form sends from the visitor's address, or the content looks like bulk mail. Check the records first, in cPanel under Email, Email Deliverability.
Where do I find the SPF and DKIM values for my domain?
On cPanel, open Email, Email Deliverability, which shows the exact records and can repair them when your DNS is on our servers. On DirectAdmin, DKIM uses the selector x. On Webuzo or Plesk, ask support.
My DNS is on Cloudflare. Do I need to do anything?
Yes. Records your control panel creates only take effect where your DNS is hosted. Copy the SPF, DKIM and DMARC values into Cloudflare yourself.
Can Domain India change my server IP if it is blocklisted?
No. The IP address of a shared hosting account cannot be changed. Open a ticket with the full bounce message and support can look at the listing and what caused it.
Ready to fix it? Follow Emails going to spam: how to fix it, or open a support ticket with the headers of a message that went to spam.
Send us the domain, a test result and the full headers of a message that went to spam, and we will help you find the cause.
Open a support ticket