There are several stages involved in the pursuit of email deliverability. The first stage is to verify and authenticate your domain, which allows you to send messages from your domain-based accounts. When you have verified your domain, will you be able to receive emails? Not at all. It is only after setting up your MX records that you will be able to receive emails in your inbox. Luckily, a number of testing MX lookup tools (iplocation.io/mx-lookup) are available that address different aspects of email deliverability.
Anyhow, having a basic understanding of MX entries is like sliding into first base with a little practice. It is important that you fully understand all components of an email system before you conduct email delivery tests on your email campaigns. The purpose of configuring MX records will be explained as well as the steps involved in the process of setting them up.
What’s an MX record?
MX stands for “mail exchanger,” and is part of the basics of the Domain Name System (DNS). Each domain name is associated with a number of mail servers that receive email messages on its behalf. Each MX record contains a DNS record identifying which mail server will receive the specific mail.
First, let’s briefly review what DNS does. DNS is responsible for translating domain names into IP addresses using A-records, among other things. To enable email servers to communicate with each other, DNS determines the IP address of folderly.com when someone searches for our domain name example.com.
In the case of a domain name used in messaging, what happens? When a prospect replies to your email with the @example.com address, your response is delayed. As a result, DNS provides the MX records for the sending mail server. Before forwarding an email to a recipient, the server performs the following steps:
The first step is to verify the authoritative name servers for folderly.com.
(2) The server then requests MX records from the folderly.com name servers
(3) Finally, the server performs a DNS lookup of the MX records and determines the IP addresses based on the MX records.
Configuring MX Records for Gmail
In the case of sending only internal messages, it is not necessary to set up an MX record for your domain. The majority of professionals use email services and have their user accounts set up, and create their email addresses. For this reason, it is okay to have a catch-all email address to ensure that all messages addressed to you are delivered to you. However, after the accounts have been created, you will be able to edit your domain’s MX record. The following steps will guide you.
Recommended MX setup
If you wish to set up your MX entries, you should follow the instructions provided by your domain registrar. You can find the DNS settings under the DNS tab. There are some domain registrars which offer quick MX record setup. In the event that you do not know how to identify your domain host, follow these steps:
- Make sure you are paying the right person for your domain name. Whenever you register a domain or transfer a domain, you will find your domain hostname listed on your billing records.
- For information about your domain name, contact a third-party DNS hosting service.
Generic MX setup in the manual mode
Depending on the host, the terminology and steps may differ. However, you can set up your domain’s MX records by following these steps.
- You can access your domain registrar account by visiting the website for your domain.
- Locate the section that contains a list of all your domains. There are various names for this tool, such as DNS Manager, DNS Management, Domain Management Page, Advanced (Mail) Settings, DNS Control Panel, and so forth.
- Choose MX Records/Email Servers/Email Settings.
- Delete any existing MX records. If the removal of MX records is not possible, set the priority value for MX records to 20 or higher.
- By selecting Add Record, new MX records can be added.
- Leave the Name/ Host field blank or enter @ as the value.
- If the first record is to be sent to mail.example.com, then specify the destination, value, and answer as (for example) mail.folderly.com.
- Make sure that the priority is 10 or lower.
Conclusion
As we all know, the MX record is an important part of DNS and is crucial for sending and receiving mail. Take into account that in order to check the details of the domain of sending and receiving the mails, we suggest you use the iplocation.io/mx-lookup tool. With the help of this effective tool, you will be able to get details of the MX records associated with the given domain. It will take less than a second to provide you with the desired results.
