Stop Your Emails Going to Spam: SPF, DKIM & DMARC on Momo Cloud

If your emails are landing in spam folders instead of inboxes, the most common cause is missing or misconfigured email authentication — and the good news is that Momo Cloud gives you the tools to fix it quickly.

Why Do Legitimate Emails End Up in Spam?

Email providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo use automated filters to decide whether a message is trustworthy. These filters look for several signals:

• Missing authentication records — no SPF, DKIM, or DMARC means the receiving server cannot verify that your email genuinely came from you.
• Poor sender reputation — sending to invalid addresses, receiving spam complaints, or sending large volumes without a warm-up period all damage your reputation score.
• Spammy content — excessive capital letters, certain trigger words, or too many links can flag a message as suspicious.
• Mismatched domain identity — when the "From" address domain does not match the sending server, filters treat it as suspicious.

Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC addresses the most critical of these issues: proving your identity to receiving mail servers.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Explained

These three standards work together to authenticate your outgoing mail. Here is a plain-language summary of what each one does:

Tip: You need all three. SPF alone is not enough — DKIM survives email forwarding where SPF does not, and DMARC ties them together and gives you visibility.

Setting Up SPF and DKIM Using cPanel Email Deliverability

Momo Cloud hosting accounts include cPanel, which has a built-in Email Deliverability tool that automatically checks and repairs SPF and DKIM for every domain on your account. This is the fastest way to get correctly configured records.

1. Log in to your cPanel account. You can access it from your Momo Cloud client area or directly at yourdomain.com:2083.
2. In the Email section, click Email Deliverability.
3. You will see a list of all domains on your account, each with a status indicator — either Valid (green) or Invalid / Problems Exist (orange or red).
4. For any domain showing a problem, click the Repair button. cPanel will automatically generate and install the correct SPF and DKIM records in your DNS zone.
5. If the repair button is greyed out or unavailable, your domain is using external nameservers (not ns1.momo.tz / ns2.momo.tz). In that case, click View to see the required records and add them manually at your external DNS provider.

Tip: If your domain uses Momo Cloud nameservers (ns1.momo.tz and ns2.momo.tz), the one-click Repair handles everything for SPF and DKIM automatically — no manual copying of records is needed.

Checking and Editing Records in Zone Editor

To view or manually edit your DNS records, use cPanel's Zone Editor.

1. In cPanel, go to Domains → Zone Editor.
2. Find your domain and click Manage.
3. Filter by TXT records to see your current SPF and DKIM entries.
4. To add or edit a record, click Add Record or the pencil icon next to an existing record.

Example SPF Record

Your SPF record should be a TXT record set on your root domain (yourdomain.com). A typical record for a domain hosted on Momo Cloud looks like this:

v=spf1 +a +mx include:momo.tz ~all

This tells receiving servers that the IP address of your domain's A record (+a) and your mail server (+mx) are both authorised senders. The ~all at the end means that mail from any other source is a "soft fail" — it is likely spam but will not be outright rejected, which is a safe starting point.

Tip: Only ever have one SPF TXT record on your domain. Multiple SPF records will cause failures. If you use a third-party service like Mailchimp or Google Workspace to send mail, add an include: tag for their domain rather than creating a second SPF record.

Example DMARC Record

Your DMARC record is a TXT record placed at the subdomain _dmarc.yourdomain.com. A safe starting record is:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:postmaster@yourdomain.com; ruf=mailto:postmaster@yourdomain.com; fo=1

Replace postmaster@yourdomain.com with a real mailbox you monitor. On Momo Cloud, your mail hostname is mail.momo.tz — make sure the mailbox you use for reports exists and is checked regularly.

Best Practices to Stay Out of Spam

Authentication records are essential, but good sending habits matter just as much.

• Use a consistent From address. Changing your sender address frequently confuses filters and erodes reputation. Stick to one address per sending purpose (e.g. hello@yourdomain.com for newsletters, support@yourdomain.com for tickets).
• Warm up new sending domains gradually. If you are sending bulk email from a newly set up domain, start with small volumes and increase slowly over several weeks. Jumping straight to thousands of messages per day triggers spam filters.
• Never email purchased or scraped lists. Sending to people who have not opted in generates complaints and hard bounces, which quickly damage your sender reputation.
• Keep bounce rates low. Remove invalid addresses promptly. A high bounce rate signals poor list hygiene to receiving servers.
• Avoid spam trigger content. All-caps subject lines, excessive exclamation marks, phrases like "FREE MONEY" or "Act now!", and large image-to-text ratios all raise spam scores.
• Include a working unsubscribe link in all marketing emails. This is also required by law in many countries.

Testing Your Email Deliverability

After setting up your records, test them before sending to real customers.

1. Visit mail-tester.com and send a test email to the address it provides. It gives you a score out of 10 and a detailed breakdown of any issues.
2. Use MXToolbox Email Health to check SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and blacklist status for your domain.
3. Send a test message to a Gmail address and open the original message headers. Look for Authentication-Results — you should see spf=pass, dkim=pass, and dmarc=pass.
4. Back in cPanel, recheck Email Deliverability — all domains should now show Valid status.

Troubleshooting: Emails Still Going to Spam

If authentication is passing but emails are still being filtered, consider these additional causes:

• Your IP is on a blacklist. Check at MXToolbox Blacklist Check. If your shared hosting IP is listed, contact Momo Cloud support — we can investigate and submit delisting requests.
• Your domain is too new. Brand-new domains have no sending history, so filters are cautious. Time and consistent good sending behaviour builds trust.
• DMARC policy is causing failures. If you recently changed p=none to p=quarantine or p=reject but some of your legitimate sending services are not covered by SPF or DKIM, those messages will be affected. Review your DMARC aggregate reports before tightening the policy.
• Third-party senders not authorised in SPF. Services like Mailchimp, Zoho, or any external SMTP relay must be included in your SPF record. Check their documentation for the correct include: value.
• DNS changes not yet propagated. DNS changes can take up to 24–48 hours to propagate worldwide. Wait and retest before concluding something is wrong.

If you have worked through all of the above and emails are still landing in spam, open a support ticket with Momo Cloud. Include the full message headers of the affected email and your domain name — our support team can review your account's mail configuration and help identify the issue.