--- title: "Domain Health: check your sending domain" description: "Check your sending domain's SPF, DKIM, DMARC and mail records and your own bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates against Google and Yahoo limits." url: "https://hiveplugins.com/docs/hive-mail-domain-health/" updated: "2026-10-28" category: Hive Mail --- # Domain Health: check your sending domain **Domain Health** checks two things you can really know: whether your sending domain's DNS records are set up the way Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook expect, and whether your own bounce, complaint and unsubscribe numbers are healthy. It tells you what is wrong, why it matters and what to change. It sends no email and changes nothing on your domain. It is part of Hive Mail Pro ([Requirements and installation](/docs/hive-mail-requirements-and-installation/)). You need the permission **Manage settings**. > **Warning:** Domain Health does not score your reputation with Gmail or Yahoo. Nobody outside those companies can see it. What you get here is your DNS records and your own numbers. ## Check your domain 1. Go to **Deliverability > Domain Health**. Your sending numbers are already on the page. Nothing about your domain has been looked up yet: Hive Mail asks DNS only when you press **Check now**. 2. In **Domain to look at**, keep the domain of your From address, or type another domain. **Use my From domain** puts yours back. If your From address is on a free mailbox provider such as gmail.com, a warning says mail "from" it can never be authenticated; send from an address on a domain you own. 3. Click **Check now**. It takes a few seconds. The records are looked up from your own server, and nothing is sent to any other service. The banner at the top gives one answer, the worst of the four record cards and the three rates: **Looks good**, **Worth fixing**, **Needs attention**, **Could not check** or **Not checked yet**. Records are kept, so the page opens with the last result and says when it was checked. ## The four record cards Each card has a badge (**Good**, **Worth fixing**, **Needs attention** or **Not known**), one sentence on what the record is, the problems found with what to do, and the facts behind it. Your own record is shown whole with a **Copy record** button. | Card | What it looks for | Typical advice | | --- | --- | --- | | **SPF** | A single SPF record; how it ends (`-all`, `~all`, `?all`, `+all` or nothing); the number of DNS lookups it causes (the limit is 10) | Merge two records into one; replace `+all` or `?all` with `~all` or `-all`; remove services you no longer use when you are over 10 lookups | | **DKIM** | A key at the usual names (`default`, `google`, `selector1`, `selector2`, `k1`, `k2`, `s1`, `s2`, `smtp`, `mail`, `dkim`, `krs`, `mandrill`, `mailgun`, `sendgrid`, `ses`) | Type your service's own selector (below); add the records your sending service gives you | | **DMARC** | A record at `_dmarc`: the policy (`none`, `quarantine`, `reject`), the percentage, where reports go and the subdomain policy | If there is none, copy the starter record: a TXT record named `_dmarc` with `p=none` and your site's admin email for reports. `p=none` only watches; move to `quarantine` after you have read the reports for a few weeks | | **Mail servers (MX)** | Whether the domain can receive mail | Add the MX records your email provider gives you, or replies and bounces are lost | **DKIM and selectors.** Many sending services use a selector name of their own, which nobody can guess. If the card says nothing was found, type the name in **Your sending service's DKIM selector** (for example `s1` or `selector1`) and click **Check this selector**. Your service shows it next to the DNS records it asks you to add. Hive Mail remembers it. "Not found" can mean only that the selector is a name Hive Mail did not try. **SPF without a record.** Gmail and Yahoo ask for SPF or DKIM, and both is best. A missing SPF record is **Needs attention**, or **Worth fixing** when DKIM was found. **Not known.** When your server could not ask DNS, or the time ran out, a card says **Not known**. Hive Mail never says a record is missing when it could not ask. Press **Check now** again. ## Your sending, last 30 days Four tiles show your own numbers for marketing emails (campaigns and automations; receipts and other transactional emails are not counted). Bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates count people, once each, over the emails sent. | Tile | Good | Worth fixing | Needs attention | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Bounce rate** | Under 2% | 2% to 5% | Over 5% | | **Spam complaint rate** | Under 0.10% | 0.10% up to 0.30% | 0.30% and over | | **Unsubscribe rate** | Under 0.5% | 0.5% and over | | 0.30% is the line Google and Yahoo say not to reach; 0.10% is the level Google asks you to stay under. The limits come from [Google's email sender guidelines](https://support.google.com/a/answer/81126) and [Yahoo's sender best practices](https://senders.yahooinc.com/best-practices/); the page links both and says when they were read. They change, so look at them now and then. Two honest notes appear under the tiles when they apply: - **Too few emails to judge.** With fewer than 100 marketing emails in 30 days, one bounce moves a rate a lot. The numbers are shown but not graded. - **Complaints not known.** Spam complaints only reach Hive Mail when your sending service reports them back. On plain WordPress mail the complaint tile says **Not known**. That is not zero. Use Mailgun or SendGrid and set up its webhook ([Bounces and suppressions](/docs/hive-mail-bounces-and-suppressions/)), or watch Google Postmaster Tools. If the webhook is set up but has reported nothing yet, a note says a 0 is only as good as that report. These are Hive Mail's numbers. Gmail and Yahoo measure their own from their side, and they can differ. ## The bulk-sender checklist The last card lists what Gmail and Yahoo ask of anyone who sends in bulk, each as **Done**, **To do** or **Not known**, with the reason it is there. | Line | Done when | | --- | --- | | **SPF or DKIM is set up for your domain** | One of the two was found | | **A DMARC record exists (at least p=none)** | A DMARC record was found | | **One-click unsubscribe on every marketing email** | Always: Hive Mail adds the `List-Unsubscribe` headers and a visible unsubscribe link | | **Unsubscribes are honoured at once** | Always: Hive Mail stops emailing a person the moment they unsubscribe | | **Spam complaint rate under 0.3%** | The complaint rate is under the line; **Not known** when complaints are not reported | | **A postal address in your emails** | **Business address** is filled in under **Settings > General** | | **A From address on your own domain** | The default From address is not on a free mailbox provider | The checklist does not change the verdict at the top. ## What to change, and what happens next Make the change at the company that hosts your DNS (your domain registrar, your host or your email provider). DNS changes can take up to an hour to show; then click **Check now** again. When you check the domain of your default From address, the **SPF, DKIM and DMARC** row of the readiness checklist in **Settings > Sending** uses the same result. ## How it differs from Check my domain **Check my domain** in **Settings > Sending** looks up SPF, DKIM and DMARC and says **Found**, **Not found** or **Could not check** ([Is my site ready to send email?](/docs/hive-mail-is-my-site-ready-to-send/)). Domain Health goes further: it reads the records and explains what is wrong, checks the mail servers, lets you type a DKIM selector, shows your own bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates against the published limits, and gives the checklist. ## What it does not do - It does not score your reputation, test where an email lands (inbox or spam) or look inside Gmail or Yahoo. - It does not send anything or change your DNS. - It does not guarantee delivery. A green page removes common causes of trouble; it is not a promise. Next: [Is my site ready to send email?](/docs/hive-mail-is-my-site-ready-to-send/), [Emails are not sending](/docs/hive-mail-emails-are-not-sending/), [Settings: Sending](/docs/hive-mail-settings-sending/).