Reverse DNS is a common method used to help keep your emails out of the dreaded spam filters. Fortunately, once you know how, reverse DNS is a quick and easy way to improve the trustability of your emails. Reverse DNS alone is not enough to guarantee that your emails will successfully make it to a users inbox, but its a quick and easy way to start. I suggest you look at DKIM keys after you have this completed as these will also greatly help you out. Click here for a guide on setting up DKIM keys for emails.

So first things first. Where do you go to set this up?

Most people think that it’s the job of your domain registrar (i.e. GoDaddy) to do this, but this is not the case. Your hosting provider is responsible for this. If you are using a shared host, you may not have access to do something like this. Generally to have a reverse DNS your website will need to have its own dedicated IP address and not be shared as a virtual host on a server somewhere. If you are unsure about this get in touch with the company that host your website and they will help you out further.

If you have your own server, be it VPS, dedicated or some other system, you should be able to set this up very easily. When you register for an account you will be given an IP for your server. This is the IP that you enter for your domain name in Godaddy or whatever domain registrar you use.  This means that domain.com will map to the IP address of your server. Reverse DNS is making sure that that same IP address reverse maps back to your domain name.

Start by logging into whatever managment system your host has provided for you. If you don’t have one then get in touch with the host and they will tell you where to find the form. Generally there will be a simple form and you can just type the name of the domain into a box and after a few minutes, the IP of your server will map back to your name. It’s a very simple yet effective thing to do to combat the spam filter war!