Understanding Domain Terminology

This article will help to better understand how email and internet systems work without getting lost in complicated technical language.

DNS

DNS stands for Domain Name System.

Think of it like the internet’s phonebook: every website has an address made of numbers called an IP address, but those are hard to remember. DNS translates easy-to-remember names (like example.com    ) into those numeric addresses so your computer knows where to go.

DKIM

DKIM stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail

It is like a special signature added to your emails that shows they really came from you and weren’t changed on the way. A CNAME record is just a signpost that tells you to go over there to check it. So instead of keeping that signature information yourself, you point to your email provider, and when someone receives your email, their system follows that signpost to confirm everything is genuine.

SPF

SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework.

It is like a guest list for your domain that says which email services are allowed to send emails on your behalf. A TXT record is simply where that list is written down in your domain settings. So when someone receives your email, their system checks that list to see if the sender is approved, and if they are, the email is trusted more.

There can only be 1 SPF record per domain - it is either shown as an SPF record in your DNS settings or as a TXT record (it can vary between providers). There are tools you can use online that show you what your SPF record currently is, such as MX Toolbox.