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Can i use root domain like google.com instead of _spf.google.com in SPF record?.

My SPF record

v=spf1 include:_spf.mx.cloudflare.net include:_spf.google.com include:mxsmtp.sendpulse.com +a +mx ~all

Can i change it to

v=spf1 include:cloudflare.net include:google.com include:sendpulse.com +a +mx ~all

This make any problem?

Stellan Coder
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2 Answers2

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To make it more clear what is what:

  • _spf.google.com is an arbitrarily chosen domain name that Google does not use for sending mail, but which they set up with an SPF TXT record in order for their mail customers to have one common place to refer to with include:_spf.google.com in their own SPF records.

  • google.com is the domain name that Google's own corporate mail accounts use. The SPF record there exists for the purpose of showing recipients which servers are allowed to send mail addressed from @google.com.

Now, it just so happens that Google uses the same (or at least closely related) mail infrastructure for their corporate mail solution as is used for customers, so their google.com SPF record refers to include:_spf.google.com, just as they ask their customers to set up their SPF.

In practice, right now, include:google.com would just be a less efficient way of getting the _spf.google.com SPF referenced (it wastes one of your allotted 10 allowed indirections for no benefit), BUT it also ties your mail solution to Google's corporate mail environment, which may or may not continue to be the same thing as Google customer mail environment in the future.

Håkan Lindqvist
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The SPF record of google.com is:

"v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all"

So, yes, technically you can replace it. You will however gain nothing, instead one more lookup will be used by the client. And the limit is 10.

For sendpulse.com the SPF record includes mxsmtp.sendpulse.com as well, but even more other domains that are most probably not relevant for you. This adds even more unnecessary lookups and is not desirable.

I would not recommend it.

Gerald Schneider
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    Indeed, one would unnecessarily throw away one of the allotted 10 lookups *and*, just as importantly imo, insert a completely unnecessary dependency that outbound mail servers of Google's own corporate mail solution matches the mail servers used by their mail customers. – Håkan Lindqvist Jan 12 '23 at 09:50