Email authentication

  • Resolved davexr

    (@davexrt)


    6 months, 3 weeks ago

    Hi Everyone,

    Im getting ready for email campaigns. I have read that in order to keep your emails from going to spam (in general, not specific to wordpress), they need to be authenticated with DKIM or SPF.

    I have several questions about this:
    1- Is this necessary for a wordpress site?
    2- My current domain email comes from the site hosting provider- bluehost. Is DKIM or SPF necessary with bluehost?
    3- There are several wordpress plugins that offer SMTP service to prevent emails from going to spam. Which one should I do? DKIM/ SPF or SMTP plugin?

    Thanks in advance for any help!!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Authenticated DKIM/SPF is necessary for all sent email campaigns.

    WordPress, it’s plugins, and your hosting provider (unless they’re your DNS or email provider) have nothing to do with that.

    You’ll set that up following instructions from your either your DNS or email provider (or both).

    • This reply was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by James Huff. Reason: clarified that the hosting provider could also be the DNS or email provider
    Thread Starter davexr

    (@davexrt)

    Appreciate the fast reply!!

    Bluehost is the website host, and email provider.
    I will be using hubspot for managing email campaigns.

    With who do I do the SPF/DKIM authentication?

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    If Bluehost is also your email provider, consult their documentation or support for the next steps.

    Thread Starter davexr

    (@davexrt)

    Thanks for the help! I got it figured out from here!

    Thread Starter davexr

    (@davexrt)

    after the dkim/spf/dmarc authentication with email provider, is there any need for the SMTP plugin?

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    You can check that by leaving a comment on your site and seeing if you receive an email. Another alternative would be to use the Health Check plugin and send yourself a test email from the plugin’s Tools tab to see if it works.

    If you didn’t receive a test email, you’ could try using’ll need to use an SMTP plugin to configure your WordPress site to use your email’s outgoing mail server instead of PHP’s mail() function. And, if the chosen SMTP plugin doesn’t work either, I recommend reaching out to their support.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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