How to Set Up Email in GoHighLevel: Domain, DKIM and Deliverability Guide

Why a custom sending domain matters

When you send an email from GoHighLevel without a custom domain, the email comes from a shared GHL infrastructure domain. Spam filters evaluate the reputation of the sending domain, not just the individual sender address. A shared domain used by thousands of other GHL accounts accumulates reputation based on the collective behaviour of everyone using it. If any sender on that shared domain sends spammy content, the entire domain's reputation is affected including your emails.

With your own sending domain, your email reputation is entirely yours. It starts clean and builds based solely on your sending behaviour. Emails from a properly configured custom domain with good sender hygiene consistently achieve inbox placement rates 15 to 25 percentage points higher than the same emails sent from a shared domain. For a service business sending 500 emails per month, that is 75 to 125 additional emails reaching the inbox rather than spam.

Custom sending domains also improve brand trust. An email from yourname@yourbusiness.com looks legitimate. An email from a generic GHL address with your business name appended looks like a mass marketing system, which is exactly what spam filters are looking for.

Step 1: Choose your sending domain

You have two options: use your main business domain (yourbusiness.com) or use a dedicated sending subdomain (mail.yourbusiness.com or em.yourbusiness.com). Both work but the subdomain approach is recommended by most email deliverability experts for two reasons.

First, it protects your main domain's reputation. If your sending volume grows and you experience any deliverability issues, the problem affects the subdomain rather than your main domain. Your main domain, used for your website, remains unaffected. Second, it is easier to recover from deliverability issues on a subdomain by creating a new one, which is not practical with your main domain.

For most small businesses just getting started with email automation, using the main domain is fine. The risk of reputation damage is low when sending volumes are modest and list hygiene is good. Choose whichever approach makes more sense for your situation and move to a subdomain if you start sending high volumes or experience deliverability problems in the future.

Step 2: Add the domain in GoHighLevel

Go to Settings, then Email Services. Click Add Sending Domain. Enter the domain or subdomain you have chosen: yourbusiness.com or mail.yourbusiness.com. Click Save or Add Domain.

GHL generates a set of DNS records you need to add to your domain registrar. The exact records vary but typically include a TXT record for SPF authorisation, one or two CNAME or TXT records for DKIM signing and a CNAME record for the tracking domain that handles open and click tracking. GHL shows all of these on the same page after you add your domain.

Leave this GHL page open while you complete the DNS steps in the next section. You need the exact record values provided here. Copy them carefully.

Step 3: Add DNS records

Log into your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Route 53 or wherever your domain is registered). Navigate to the DNS management section for your domain. The interface varies by registrar but you are looking for a way to add or edit DNS records.

SPF record: Add a TXT record at the root of your domain (@ or blank host for main domain, or the subdomain prefix for a subdomain). The value is the SPF string provided by GHL. If you already have an SPF record on your domain for another service like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, you need to combine them into a single SPF record rather than having two separate ones. Multiple SPF records cause validation failures. Combine by adding GHL's include statement to your existing SPF record.

DKIM records: Add the CNAME or TXT records exactly as provided by GHL. DKIM records are typically added with a specific subdomain host like ghl._domainkey or similar. Copy the host and value exactly. Any extra character, space or misplaced period causes DKIM validation to fail.

Tracking domain CNAME: If GHL provides a tracking domain record, add the CNAME with the host and value specified. This enables open and click tracking in your GHL campaigns and shows data in your campaign analytics.

Save all records in your DNS settings. The exact save process varies by registrar. Most show a confirmation message when records are saved successfully.

Step 4: Verify the setup

Return to GHL's Email Services settings page. Wait at least 30 minutes for DNS propagation before clicking Verify. Many registrars propagate changes within minutes but some take longer.

Click the Verify or Check DNS button. GHL checks each record in turn and shows a green checkmark for each one that validates correctly. If any record fails verification, go back to your DNS settings and compare the failing record character by character against what GHL provided. Common errors include extra quotes around the record value, a missing period at the end of a domain name in a CNAME record or a space introduced when copying the value.

If verification continues to fail after 24 hours and you have verified the records match exactly, use a free DNS lookup tool like MXToolbox or dig (command line) to check whether the records are publicly visible. If the records do not appear in a DNS lookup, contact your registrar's support to confirm the records saved correctly.

Step 5: Add a DMARC record

DMARC is an email authentication policy that tells receiving mail servers what to do with emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks. It is not strictly required by GHL but it is considered a best practice and is required by Gmail and Yahoo for bulk senders.

Add a TXT record to your DNS with the host _dmarc.yourdomain.com and a value that starts with v=DMARC1. A simple starting DMARC policy is: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:youremail@yourdomain.com. The p=none policy monitors email authentication without rejecting any emails, which is the right starting point. You can tighten the policy to p=quarantine or p=reject later once you have confirmed all your legitimate email sources are correctly authenticated.

Step 6: Test your deliverability

Go to mail-tester.com. The site generates a unique test email address. Send a test email from GHL to that address. Mail-tester analyses the email and gives it a score out of 10 with detailed feedback on what is working and what needs improvement. Aim for a score of 8 or above before sending to your real list.

Common issues mail-tester flags: missing or invalid SPF record, missing DKIM signature, no DMARC record, spam trigger words in the subject line and high image-to-text ratio in HTML emails. Address each issue in the order of its impact on your score.

Send a test email to your own Gmail and Outlook addresses. Check whether the email lands in the inbox, promotions tab or spam folder. An email that lands in Gmail's inbox from a correctly configured sending domain with clean content confirms the setup is working. If it lands in promotions or spam, the content rather than the domain is likely the cause.

Email deliverability best practices

Domain setup handles the technical authentication layer. Deliverability also depends on sending behaviour and list quality over time. Warm up a new sending domain gradually: start by sending to your most engaged contacts first and increase volume slowly over 4 to 6 weeks. Sending high volume immediately on a new domain looks suspicious to spam filters.

Remove hard bounces from your list promptly. GHL marks hard bounces automatically. Export and remove these contacts monthly. A hard bounce rate above 2 percent in any sending period signals list quality problems to spam filters. Maintain a clean list and your sender reputation stays strong over time. See our full email marketing setup guide for how to connect your configured domain to campaigns and build a high-performing email programme.