What is SPF record?

[Helina]

Hello,
Can someone please explain me how will spf record help my domain name? And do I need to have SPF for all my domain names? please help. thank you.

[webscott]

Hi,

We recommend to have Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record for all your domains. An SPF record is a type of Domain Name Service (DNS) record that identifies which email servers are permitted to send email on behalf of your domain name.

The purpose of an SPF record is to prevent spammers from sending messages with forged From addresses at your domain. Recipients can refer to the SPF record to determine whether a message purporting to be from your domain comes from an authorized mail server.

If your domain does not have an SPF record, some recipient email server domains may reject messages from your email address because they cannot validate that the messages come from an authorized mail server.

You can enable SPF record from cpanel control panel itself.

[Rachel]

Basically, what happens is SPF records allow domain owners to publish a list of IP addresses that are authorized to send email on their behalf. That way, if any other IP tries to send mail from that domain, the mail server knows that the address is forged. It is highly recommended to set a SPF record for each of your domain names.