GoDaddy step-by-step domain authentication

This article is meant for those who already successfully registered a domain with GoDaddy.

1. Head to the Account settings page and click the Domains tab.

2. Under Sending domains, click Add domain.

3. Enter the email address you wish to use to send emails from and click Save.

4. Verify your email address with the confirmation email we send you, or immediately authenticate your domain to automatically verify your email. 

5. Once the domain has been added, click on the Authenticate button. A window will appear containing Name and Value fields your DKIM and SPF records. Copy these fields and keep this page open.

1. A popup will appear, prompting you to start the authentication process. Click Continue.

This tool will scan your domain, and detect which provider is the host. 

2. Once the provider has been detected, follow the instructions to connect to your account. You will need to use your login credentials to log into your hosting provider.

Or, you can choose Show added DNS records to manually view and add the records. Keep in mind, if you use a social login (such as Gmail) to login into your hosting provider, you will need to choose the manual authentication option, as this type of login is not supported.

3. Next, follow the steps to authorize MailerLite to configure your DNS and add the necessary records.

4. Once the DNS configuration is successful, you will be redirected back to MailerLite. Refresh the page to see the updated status of your domain.

The domain may show as authenticated right away, or it can take up to 24 hours. In this case, you will see Pending next to your domain. 

If you would like to access the DNS records and authenticate manually, switch to the Manual tab.

Head over to GoDaddy and log in to your account. 

1. Under My Products, scroll down to Domains and locate the domain you would like to authenticate.

2. Click DNS to access all of your domain’s existing records.

1. Click Add new record.  

2. For Type, choose CNAME.

3. In the Name box, paste the Name field for the DKIM record in your MailerLite account. Be sure to remove your domain name, as GoDaddy already adds it. 

4. In the Value box, paste the DKIM Value text that is given to you in your MailerLite account.

5. Leave the TTL at ½ hour. 

6. Click Save.

1. Click Add new record.

2. For Type, choose TXT.

3. In the Name box, enter: @.

4. In the Value box, paste the SPF Value in your MailerLite account. 

5. Leave the TTL at ½ hour. 

6. Click Save.

Head back to the MailerLite Domains tab and click on the Authenticate button for the domain you want to authenticate. Once approved, the domain will appear authenticated on your Domains page.

However, sometimes the site will say that one or both records were not approved, even if all of the information was correctly submitted. 

There are 2 reasons why this happens:

1. It can take the servers up to 24 hours to completely update this information. Most of the time, however, it is approved and updated in a matter of minutes.

2. Some information has to be re-checked and updated.

🛠️ For solutions to common issues, check our guide Troubleshooting: Domain authentication.

This article is meant for those who already successfully registered a domain with GoDaddy. You'll need this registration as long as you use the domain name, even when you authenticate it with MailerLite. 

1. Head to Domains.

2. Click Add domain.

3. Enter the email address you wish to use to send emails from and click send verification email. Verify your email address with the confirmation email we send you, or immediately authenticate your domain to automatically verify your email. 

4. Once the domain has been added, click on the Authenticate button. You’ll get the Name and Value fields for the DKIM and SPF records. Copy these fields and keep this page open.

Head over to GoDaddy and log in to your account. 

1. Under My Products, scroll down to Domains and locate the domain you would like to authenticate.

2. Click DNS to access all of your domain’s existing records.

1. Click Add new record.  

2. For Type, choose TXT.

3. In the Name box, paste the Name field for the DKIM record in your MailerLite account. Be sure to remove your domain name, as GoDaddy already adds it. 

4. In the Value box, paste the DKIM Value text that is given to you in your MailerLite account.

5. Leave the TTL at ½ hour. 

6. Click Save.

1. Click Add new record.

2. For Type, choose TXT.

3. In the Name box, enter: @.

4. In the Value box, paste the SPF Value in your MailerLite account. 

5. Leave the TTL at ½ hour. 

6. Click Save.

Head back to the MailerLite Domains page and click on the green Check DNS records button located below the records.

You will get notified once both records have been approved.

However, sometimes the site will say that one or both records were not approved, even if all of the information was correctly submitted. 

There are two reasons why this happens:

1. It can take the servers up to 24 hours to completely update this information. Most of the time, however, it is approved and updated in a matter of minutes.

2. Some information has to be re-checked and updated.

Even if you think you are sure you set up the information correctly, we suggest that you follow the troubleshooting steps below, just in case.

DKIM record is not approved

If the DKIM record fails, first check if you have typed ml._domainkey only (without your domain) in the Host field as GoDaddy automatically includes your domain name.

Also, check if both Value fields are exactly the same as they’re case-sensitive. 

If you’re unsure, you can compare both texts here.

SPF record is not approved

There are three reasons why an SPF record is not approved:

• SPF records don't match

• SPF Name record field must be left empty

• More than one SPF record was found

SPF records don’t match

• Check that the Name is @ and not your domain. 

• Check if the Value field on your GoDaddy DNS page is exactly the same as the one on your MailerLite Domains page. They have to be identical as they are case-sensitive. The record won’t be approved otherwise. 

You can use this site to compare both texts.

SPF Name record field must be left empty

In GoDaddy, when your domain is meant to go in the Name field of a record, it should be replaced with @.

Use @ as the Name field for the TXT record. 

More than one SPF record was found

It’s only possible to have one SPF record on your DNS zone. If you have more than one, they need to be merged. 

In the picture below, there are two different TXT records for SPF. Both of these need to be merged into one single record.

Fortunately, MailerLite does this for you after you click once on the green Check DNS records button. This allows the site to check and update the SPF record’s Value with the merged version after clicking on it. The updated SPF value will be available on the same pop-up page.

At first, you will notice that the SPF value record will look something like this:

v=spf1 a mx include:_spf.mlsend.com ?all

After clicking on the green Check DNS records button and receiving the error message that more than one SPF record has been found, refresh the page, click on the Check status button, and most likely, you will see that there is a new merged value for the SPF record. 

You can confirm this by examining it. The merge was successful if the text includes more than one include.

An example of a merged SPF record from MailerLite and Outlook:

v=spf1 a mx include:_spf.mlsend.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all

Before setting up the new merged SPF record, it’s important to:

• Remove all of the current SPF records in your GoDaddy DNS zone, including the original one from MailerLite that is not merged

• Add a new TXT record with the merged SPF record

• Go back to your MailerLite Domains page and click on the green Check DNS records button

An error may still come up, even after setting up the merged SPF record in the DNS zone. Don’t worry if this happens. Remember that servers can take up to 24 hours to completely update this information. Most of the time, however, it’s approved within a few minutes to a few hours.

You can check if the SPF record is correctly set up with this third-party tool.