Steps to Authenticate Your Emails via cPanel
Authentication shows email providers and receivers that the message truly belongs to you and not to some scammer pretending to be you. So, emails for your business or website must be authenticated regularly. Otherwise, they can get lost in the spam folder, or sometimes they might not get delivered at all.
A simple and powerful way to handle email authentication is by using cPanel. It is a control panel where you can easily find tools that help you manage your domain and email settings. In cPanel, you can quickly set up systems like SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). They work together to tell the world that your emails are genuine and safe.
Let’s get started with the authentication process.
Process to Authenticate Your Emails Using cPanel
Open Your cPanel Account
You need to first sign in to your cPanel account. Use your login ID and password. After you log in, you will see many options available to manage your website and email settings.
Go to the Email Deliverability Section
Scroll down slowly in the cPanel dashboard and find the Email section. Inside it, you will notice an icon called Email Deliverability. You must click on this to move forward. Here, you can check and fix email authentication issues.
Find Out If Any Problem Exists
When you enter the Email Deliverability page, cPanel will automatically check your domain’s email settings. If there is any issue, a warning message will appear saying “Problems Exist”.
At this point, you will get the following two choices on how to fix the issue. With the REPAIR option, the system will fix the settings one by one by guiding you through simple steps. On the other hand, MANAGE option will show all the settings in one place. This is useful only if you already know how to manually configure email records.
In this guide, we will follow the easy REPAIR method so that everything becomes simple.
Important Note: If your domain’s DNS is not pointing to your hosting server, you might not get the “REPAIR” option. You will first need to set your DNS to your hosting provider’s server.
Create Your DKIM Key
cPanel will show a message saying that your domain does not have a DKIM key if you have never done email authentication before. It will look something like “A DKIM key for ‘yourdomain.com’ does not exist on the local server.”
You must click the button that says GENERATE LOCAL DKIM KEY. This action will create a special digital key that will help prove that the emails sent from your domain are original.
Check the Recommended SPF and DKIM Records
The DKIM key is created. Then, you will see that cPanel automatically suggests SPF and DKIM records. These records are already filled based on the system’s best practices.
You will not have to edit anything if there are no previous records. You should simply accept these suggested records because they are designed to offer the best protection and performance for your emails.
Add the Suggested Records to Your DNS
Apply these suggestions properly. So, click on the REPAIR button once again. By doing this, cPanel will automatically add the recommended SPF and DKIM records into your domain’s DNS settings.
This step will complete your basic email authentication setup and secure your outgoing emails from being marked as fake or spam.
Check the Final Status
Go back to the Email Deliverability page after all steps are done. Wait for a minute or two because sometimes the system needs a little time to verify everything.
You will see a green “Valid” status next to your domain name. This means your email authentication is successful and your domain is now fully trusted by mail servers.
Conclusion
Email authentication is not something you should ignore if you are serious about reaching your customers or audience. A properly authenticated email system keeps your brand image strong and protects you from spam and phishing attacks.
