The most useful part of setting up Postmaster Tools happens before you add a domain. You need to know which domains your emails actually use.

Your website, visible From address, DKIM signature and Return-Path can involve different domains. Adding only the website domain can leave you looking at the wrong traffic.

Collect one real message from each sender

Take a recent newsletter, product notification and password reset if different systems send them. In Gmail, open the message menu and choose Show original. Record the From address, the DKIM signing domain shown as d=, and the Return-Path domain.

Google's setup instructions tell you to add a DKIM or SPF authentication domain. Prefer a domain you control and that your provider actually uses to authenticate the stream. Ask the provider to identify it if the headers are unclear.

For example, a newsletter might use updates.example.com for DKIM while account notifications use mail.example.com. Record both streams before choosing what to monitor.

Add and verify the domain

  1. Sign in at Google Postmaster Tools with a Google or Google Workspace account.
  2. Open Manage Domains and choose Add new domain.
  3. Enter the authentication domain and select Create.
  4. Open More options beside the domain and choose Verify domain.
  5. Copy the TXT or CNAME verification record into the relevant DNS zone.
  6. Return to Postmaster Tools and select Verify.

Copy the host and value exactly. Check whether your DNS provider adds the domain automatically to the host field. Create the verification record separately from existing authentication records.

Google recommends adding and verifying the primary domain before adding its subdomains. Subdomains of a verified primary domain do not need separate verification, but you still add them to view their individual dashboards.

Give the right people access

For a verified domain, open Manage users, select New user and enter the person's Google account address. Tell them when access is ready because Postmaster Tools does not notify them automatically.

Keep ownership with a company-controlled account. Record who manages DNS and who reviews the reporting. Postmaster Tools covers personal gmail.com and googlemail.com recipients, so a campaign dominated by corporate addresses may provide little useful data here.

Your first review should check that the expected stream is represented. If the charts stay empty, work through the missing-data guide before changing your sending volume.

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