Verifying third-party domains for Email Campaigns

Verifying the domain for your custom email is one of the best ways to ensure your campaigns won't get marked as spam.

A custom email is an email address that matches your domain. For example, if your domain is www.sampledomain.com, you might have a custom email address like contact@sampledomain.com

If you registered your domain through Squarespace, it's automatically verified.

If you bought your domain from a third-party provider, there are two options for verifying the domain:

• Option 1 - Transfer the domain to Squarespace. It will be automatically verified in Email Campaigns after the domain is transferred.
• Option 2 - Manually add verification records to your third-party domain’s DNS settings.

This guide reviews how to manually add verification records to a third-party domain. If your domain has a DMARC policy set to p=reject, you can't use your sender details until after you verify the domain. If you're not sure about your domain's DMARC policies, contact your domain provider.

Tip: After you verify a domain for one email address, it's verified for all addresses on that domain.

Step 1 - Find your verification records

From the Email Campaigns dashboard, click Settings, then click Sender Details. Find the details you want to update, then click Verify Domain.

The window that opens has three records you'll need to add to your DNS settings. The records look like this, but the Data column may have slightly different text:

Step 2 - Add the records to your DNS settings

In a new browser tab or window, log into your domain account, and find where you manage your DNS settings. Depending on your provider, this may be called Zone File Settings, Manage Domains, Domain Manager, DNS Manager, or something similar.

Here, create three new records matching what you see in Squarespace. In Squarespace, each record has a Type, Host, and Data value. Your provider's DNS settings may use different labels, such as Record instead of Type.

First record

Type (aka Record)	Host (aka Hostname or Alias)	Data (aka Points To or Value)
CNAME	squarespace._domainkey	squarespace-domainkey.squarespace-mail.com

Second record

Note: If you see an error message when entering this record, merge your SPF records.

Type (aka Record)	Host (aka Hostname or Alias)	Data (aka Points To or Value)
TXT	@	v=spf1 include:squarespace-mail.com ~all

Third record

Type (aka Record)	Host (aka Hostname or Alias)	Data (aka Points To or Value)
TXT	_dmarc	Copy and paste the unique code beside _dmarc in the Data column

Depending on your provider, your records may take up to 72 hours to fully resolve. To check the status, visit your sender details. You'll see a "Domain Settings Verified" message when your domain is verified.

The sections below show how to add these records to the DNS settings for common providers. If your provider isn't listed, contact their support team for more help.

Verifying a 1&1 domain

1. Go to www.1and1.com and log into your Control Panel.
2. Click Manage Domains.
3. Click the next to your domain and choose DNS.
4. Adjust the filter at the top of screen to Display All Records.
5. Above your existing records, click Add Record.
6. Add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Save. See the screenshot below for an example of how this might look.
7. Continue the same process for the two TXT records, ensuring that your filter is still set to Display All Records each time.

For more questions, contact 1&1 support.

Verifying a GoDaddy domain

1. Log into your Domain Control Center at dcc.godaddy.com.
2. Select your domain to access the Domain Settings page.
3. Scroll down to Additional Settings and click Manage DNS.
4. Click Add at the bottom of the Records section.
5. Add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Save. See the screenshot below for an example of how this might look.
6. Continue the same process for the two TXT records.

For more questions, contact GoDaddy support.

Verifying a Google Domain

1. Log into your account at domains.google.
2. Next to your domain, click the DNS icon.
3. Scroll down to Custom resource records.
4. Add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Add. See the screenshot below for an example of how this might look.
5. Continue the same process for the two TXT records.

Your Google Domain may include a default SPF record under synthetic records, which will conflict with the Squarespace SPF record. To complete verification, delete the default SPF record, then add Google Workspace SPF information to your Squarespace SPF record to prevent interference with your Google Workspace account. The final record data will look like this:

v=spf1 include:squarespace-mail.com include:_spf.google.com ~all

For more questions, contact Google domains support.

Verifying a Hover domain

1. Log into your account at hover.com.
2. Click DNS.
3. Click Add Record.
4. Add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Add Record. See the screenshot below for an example of how this might look.
5. Continue the same process for the two TXT records.

For more questions, contact Hover support.

Verifying a Namecheap domain

1. Log into your account at namecheap.com.
2. Click Account, then Domain List.
3. Next to the domain, click Manage.
4. Click Advanced DNS.
5. Click Add New Record.
6. Add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Save All Changes.. See the screenshot below for an example of how this might look.
7. Continue the same process for the two TXT records.

For more questions, contact Namecheap support.

Troubleshooting SPF records

An SPF record is a TXT record with @ host pointing to a v=spf1.

I'm unable to add a new SPF record

If your domain provider won't let you add the SPF record because an SPF record already exists:

1. Look in your custom domain's DNS settings for a TXT record with @ host pointing to a v=spf1 value. This is your SPF record.
2. Edit this record.
3. Add include:squarespace-mail.com before the final -all, ~all, or ?all tag.

Here's an example, though the layout may look different for your domain provider:

My DNS settings have multiple SPF records

If a "Please merge your SPF records" message appears in your sender details, your custom domain's DNS settings have more than one SPF record. This can happen when you've verified the domain with multiple email marketing services.

If your DNS settings have more than one SPF record, some email providers will reject your email automatically. For this reason, you'll need to merge the SPF records to verify your custom domain for Email Campaigns.

Each SPF record will have its own entry in your DNS panel. For example, if you have three SPF records, it might look like this:

To merge them:

1. Look in your custom domain's DNS settings for one or more TXT records with @ host pointing to a v=spf1 value. These are SPF records.
2. Find the SPF record that has include:squarespace-mail.com. This is the record you'll keep.
3. In the other SPF record or records, copy everything between v=spf1 and the final ~all, /all, or -all, like this:

4. Paste this before include:squarespace-mail.com. There should be a space between each one.
5. Look at how the other SPF record or records end. If any of them end in -all, change the ~all at the end of the merged SPF record to -all. Otherwise, leave it as ~all. (In this example, you'd leave it as ~all.)
6. If your provider doesn't auto-save, save the changes.
7. Delete the other SPF records (the ones that don't include squarespace), then save again.

Here's how the example above would look when you're finished:

Getting more help

• If you're not sure if you have a custom email, visit Finding your email provider.
• For help with DNS settings in your provider's account, we recommend contacting their support team. To help them understand your issue, you can use our sample message.