Email authentication guides
Practical, no-nonsense guides to SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Fix what is broken and keep your mail out of spam.
BIMI Without a VMC: How Self-Asserted BIMI and CMCs Actually Work
You can publish BIMI without a VMC. Self-asserted BIMI shows your logo in Yahoo, AOL and Fastmail with no certificate at all. A Common Mark Certificate adds Gmail logo display without a registered trademark. A Verified Mark Certificate is the only path to the Gmail blue checkmark. This guide gives you a clear decision map, the record syntax, and the DMARC prerequisites every path shares.
How to Set Up BIMI and Get a VMC So Your Logo Shows in Gmail
BIMI puts your brand logo next to your emails in Gmail, Apple Mail and Yahoo, but only after DMARC is at enforcement and, for Gmail, only with a verified mark certificate. This guide covers the full pipeline: the DMARC prerequisite, prepping an SVG Tiny P/S logo, choosing a VMC versus the cheaper CMC, publishing the v/l/a record, and a troubleshooting checklist for when the logo still will not show.