Zoho Mail, DKIM configuration with cloudflare on my free subdomain

[gabbrr]

(lilli.rf.gd)

I’d like to make a free custom mail with zoho, using my free InfinityFree subdomain.
The problem is: when i write a mail to a @gmail.com user, the mail is blocked by gmail’s spam protection beacuse i don’t have dkim configured.
On infinityfree’s normal dashboard, you can’t add dkim record, but in cloudflare, yes.
CloudFlare with a subdomain is not supported, so i’m wondering: do you have any alternative or solution to this problem?
Thank you in advance.

[Greenreader9]

1. Premium hosting

2. custom domain

[gabbrr]

oh, so no free methods i guess?

[Greenreader9]

None that I can think of for DIKM, no.

You could try and get a subdomain that is on the public suffix list, like eu.org, but it could take awhile to get approved.

[KangJL]

@gabbrr

free methods

Get pp.ua

Where do I get free domains?

You can try using EU.org or PP.UA (the latter one if you have a credit card even with a few cents on it and a phone number to use for verification, though the credit card is used only once for verification and then what’s free will remain free) as a valid alternative to Freenom (and Dot TK because Dot TK and Freenom are the same) that also supports Cloudflare and other things that Freenom with its domains supported.

[Admin]

At least in theory, you could setup the DKIM records by using the CNAME records feature. Some email providers use this by default (SMTP2GO and Amazon SES both do this). But in theory you could do this as long as you have some other DNS service where you can setup the DKIM records for the CNAME records to point to.

@gabbrr

The problem is: when i write a mail to a @gmail.com user, the mail is blocked by gmail’s spam protection beacuse i don’t have dkim configured.

Are you sure that this is the case? Having DKIM is not mandatory in most cases, having valid SPF should be enough.

And it might just as well be that Gmail just doesn’t like your email for some reason. Spam filtering is a lot more sophisticated than just ticking all the boxes for security best practices.

[Frank419]

@Admin

having valid SPF should be enough.

These days Google started to require DMARC as well. But yes, DKIM wasn’t mandatory right now.

[Admin]

@Frank419

These days Google started to require DMARC as well.

Only for senders who send more than 5000 emails to Gmail per day. If you’re below that, you need at least SPF or DKIM. Above that, you need SPF and DKIM and DMARC.

But 5000 emails to Gmail is a lot, so I don’t think that will be relevant for anyone using a free subdomain.

[gabbrr]

I’ll try Amazon Ses, SMTP2GO it’s not working right now.
I don’t know why gmail is blocking my mails

[Admin]

@gabbrr

I don’t know why gmail is blocking my mails

If you view the message in the spam folder, Gmail will tell you why they marked it as spam. Did you check that? What does Gmail say is the reason?

[gabbrr]

It’s not that the mail is in spam folder, the mail can’t be sent.
Here’s the text sent to my Zoho Mail after a message to a @gmail.com user:

Reporting-MTA: dns; mx.zohomail.eu
Arrival-Date: Mon, 13 May 2024 16:03:37 +0200

Original-Recipient: rf****; gabr************@gmail.com
Final-Recipient: rf****; gabr************@gmail.com
Status: 550
Action: failed
Last-Attempt-Date: 13 May 2024 14:03:43 GMT
Diagnostic-Code: 5.7.1 [136.***.***.57 12] Gmail has detected that this message is
            5.7.1 likely unsolicited mail. To reduce the amount of spam sent to Gmail,
            5.7.1 this message has been blocked. For more information, go to
            5.7.1 https://support.google.com/mail/?p=UnsolicitedMessageError 3830e7fff4ca-2e4d************8369921fa.15 - gsmtp
Remote-MTA: dns; gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com

[Admin]

Thank you for sharing that message. It’s about as clear as it is unclear.

On one hand, Google says they believe you are sending an “unsolicited message”. That’s pretty much the definition of spam, so it’s not helpful, but it doesn’t clearly indicate that the problem is caused by lack of DKIM verification, but rather Google just not liking your message for some reason.

Here are a few things you could do:

• Send a test message to Mail Tester, which is usually very helpful in assessing the quality of the message sent: https://www.mail-tester.com/
• Add your website to Google Postmaster, which will show you metrics like spam complaints, domain reputation, etc.: https://postmaster.google.com

In any case, there is not a lot else I can do to help you with this. Google says your message is spam when sent via Zoho. Zoho are email experts, so they may know more about this. I don’t see anything that proves that not having DKIM, while not optimal, is the reason you have this issue.

And even if it was, we don’t have support for DKIM on our hosting right now. Messages like this are useful to help gauge interest in having such a feature, but please understand that we cannot just add it right now.

[gabbrr]

Thank you for the answer.

@Admin

Send a test message to Mail Tester, which is usually very helpful in assessing the quality of the message sent: https://www.mail-tester.com/

I tested it and the the tester gave me 7/10, because of dkim, but it says that’s an aceptable mail.
I wrote a message 2 days ago on Zoho’s community, but they haven’t responded yet.

[gabbrr]

They answered me, saying this:

The emails will be bounced back by the recipient server (Gmail) when the authentication records are not configured for the sending domain. Ensure that you have configured the authentication records before sending emails.

But I already knew that, so I dropped a mail on their support email.
I’ll update you

[gabbrr]

No one answered. So, i’m switching to ImproxMX a this point, thanks to this guide.
How to create free business email with ImprovMX