Check Your Domain’s Security, Deliverability, and Trust Score

A domain scanner analyzes the key DNS and authentication records—SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and BIMI—that determine whether your emails are trusted by providers like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. These authentication methods confirm that emails sent from your domain are legitimate and haven’t been spoofed. If any of these records are missing, misconfigured, or not aligned with your sending domain, mailbox providers may reject your messages, send them to spam, or flag your domain as high-risk.

A domain scanner gives you visibility across these areas, helping you pinpoint issues that directly affect inbox placement, brand reputation, and overall email security. It’s one of the fastest ways to diagnose deliverability problems and prevent attackers from impersonating your domain.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS record that lists the mail servers allowed to send email for your domain. When a message is sent, receiving servers check whether the IP address is included in your SPF record.

If your SPF record is missing or outdated—or if a service you use to send email isn’t listed—your messages may fail authentication. Failed or soft-fail SPF results increase spam filtration, reduce trust, and make your domain more vulnerable to spoofing.

A healthy SPF record ensures that all your legitimate sending sources (CRM tools, marketing platforms, ticketing systems, etc.) are properly authorized, which is essential for consistent deliverability.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a cryptographic signature to your outbound emails. This signature allows receiving servers to verify two things:

1. That the message was actually sent by the domain it claims to be from.

2. That the message wasn't altered in transit.

Platforms like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and iCloud expect all senders—including small businesses—to have DKIM enabled. Without DKIM, your domain lacks a critical layer of verification, and your emails are more likely to be flagged as suspicious or fraudulent.

DKIM is also a key requirement for DMARC alignment, which directly impacts your domain’s trust score and inbox placement.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) tells receiving servers what to do when SPF or DKIM checks fail. But the most important part of DMARC is alignment, which requires the domain in your “From” address to match the domain used in SPF or DKIM.

Even if SPF and DKIM pass, misalignment causes a DMARC fail—leading to lost emails, reduced deliverability, and a weakened domain reputation.

DMARC also provides reporting that shows who is sending email on your behalf, which helps you identify unauthorized senders, misconfigured systems, and potential spoofing attempts.

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) allows your logo to appear in supported inboxes—but only if your domain has strong authentication in place. To qualify for BIMI, you must have DMARC at enforcement (p=quarantine or p=reject).

While BIMI isn’t required for email delivery, it increases brand trust, improves open rates, and provides a visual indicator that your messages are safe and verified. For SMBs, this can act as both a security measure and a credibility signal.

Your DNS is the foundation of your email identity. Missing or incorrect records mean mailbox providers can’t verify who you are, which leads to:

• Soft or hard authentication failures

• Spam folder placement

• Blocking by major providers

• Reduced domain reputation

• Increased vulnerability to spoofing

A domain scanner identifies these issues early so you can fix them before they impact your inbox performance.

Any time you add a new tool that sends email—marketing software, ticketing systems, phone systems, invoicing tools—you should scan your domain again. Each sending service must be included in SPF (and ideally sign with DKIM) to avoid failures.

A monthly or quarterly scan is also recommended, since unexpected sending sources or misconfigurations can appear over time.

Incorrect or partially configured records can create silent deliverability issues that are difficult to diagnose without a scanner. For example, an SPF record with too many DNS lookups will fail; a DKIM record with formatting errors will cause signature verification issues; and a DMARC record with missing tags or incorrect syntax may cause enforcement to behave unexpectedly. Misconfigured authentication doesn’t just reduce inbox placement—major providers may throttle your mail, flag your domain as risky, or block messages entirely. A domain scanner helps surface these problems before they escalate.

Major email providers rely heavily on SPF, DKIM, and DMARC results to determine whether to trust and deliver your emails. When authentication consistently fails, providers may route your messages to spam, delay delivery, or block them. When authentication passes and aligns properly, your domain gains a stronger reputation, meaning faster delivery, higher inbox placement, and lower spam risk. These providers also use DMARC reports to detect spoofing attempts and suspicious activity tied to your domain.

With 2025 authentication requirements tightening, these signals matter more than ever.

Many SMBs assume email security is only a concern for large enterprises, but attackers often target smaller organizations because their authentication setup is easier to exploit. Without proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, an attacker can impersonate your domain, send fraudulent messages, trick customers, and damage your brand reputation. Beyond security, missing authentication directly affects deliverability—meaning invoices, proposals, login emails, and customer communication may fail to reach the inbox.

A domain scanner gives SMBs a simple way to monitor their authentication posture and fix issues before they impact daily operations.