Add and verify a domain

Walk through each generated DNS record, where to paste it at common registrars, and what to do while propagation runs.

A domain must be added and verified before any mailbox on it can send campaigns. Campaigns go out through the mail provider your mailboxes belong to — Google, Microsoft, Amazon SES, or your own SMTP host — and that provider is what signs and delivers them. These three records tell receiving mail servers to accept its mail for your domain: that it may send for the domain (SPF), where to find the signature it applies (DKIM), and what to do when a check fails (DMARC). SendCanyon lists all three for you and checks them against live DNS — your job is pasting them at your registrar.

Add the domain

Go to Domains → Add domain, enter the bare domain (acmehq.com, no www, no https://), and save. The domain appears with status Pending and a table of three DNS records: type, host, and value, each with a copy button.

The three records, one by one

SPF (TXT on the root)

Example — Type TXT · Host @ · Value
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

That line is the shape, not the value to paste: copy the exact value from the domain's record table, because that is what verification checks against. If your domain already has an SPF record, merge the includes into the existing record instead of adding a second one: two SPF records is an automatic failure.

DKIM (on a selector subdomain)

Your mail provider signs outgoing messages — it holds the private key and adds the DKIM signature on the way out. SendCanyon holds no signing key and signs nothing. Turn DKIM on in that provider's admin console, then publish the record from the domain's table at your registrar so receivers can find the public half and check the signature. Paste host and value exactly — truncation is the most common DKIM failure. Some registrar UIs split long values into quoted 255-character chunks automatically; that's fine.

DMARC (TXT on _dmarc)

Type TXT · Host _dmarc · Value
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@sendcanyon.com

SendCanyon starts you at p=none (monitor only). The rua= address is where receivers send aggregate reports on who is sending as your domain — SendCanyon collects them for you, so publish the record exactly as listed. After two weeks of clean sending you can tighten to p=quarantine — edit the record at your registrar and re-verify.

Registrar tips

  • Cloudflare: DNS → Records → Add record. Set the proxy toggle to "DNS only" (grey cloud) for TXT records; TXT is never proxied anyway, but keep the habit.
  • Namecheap: Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS. Use @ for the root host, and paste the DKIM selector host without the domain suffix — Namecheap appends it.
  • GoDaddy: My Products → DNS. Same rule: host fields take the prefix only, not the full domain.
  • Google Domains / Squarespace: DNS → Custom records. Values with semicolons paste fine unquoted.
  • If your registrar asks for TTL, the default (usually 1 hour) is fine — lower means faster edits later.

Verify and wait out propagation

Back in SendCanyon, press Verify records. Each of the three records shows an individual pass/fail so you can see exactly which one is still missing. DNS propagation typically completes in minutes but can take up to 24–48 hours depending on TTLs; Verify records can be re-run as often as you like, and SendCanyon also re-checks periodically in the background and emails you when the domain flips to Verified.

Once verified, the domain joins your available domain pools for campaigns, and SendCanyon keeps monitoring the records — if one disappears or changes, sending pauses on that domain and you're notified before receivers start junking your mail.