Your Ghost newsletter lands in Gmail spam even though your site's own email seems fine.
Ghost runs two independent email systems, and that's the trap. Bulk newsletters go out only through Mailgun's API — there is no SMTP option and no other provider you can plug in — while transactional/magic-link mail uses a separate configuration. So authenticating your main domain does nothing for the newsletter: the newsletter's sending domain is typically a mg. subdomain on Mailgun, and it's that subdomain that needs SPF, DKIM and an aligned DMARC to reach the inbox. Source: Ghost Docs — Why do I have to set up Mailgun? · verified 2026-07-18.
mg.yourdomain.com) — that's the one to authenticate.mg. subdomain, not just your root domain.No. Adding SPF includes and DKIM records (whether TXT or CNAME) only adds authentication — it never blocks mail. The only step that can affect delivery is tightening your DMARC policy to quarantine or reject, and that comes later, once reports confirm every legitimate sender passes.
Yes. Most platforms handle DKIM (and sometimes SPF) so their mail can pass, but the DMARC record is published on your own domain and controlled by you — it's what tells receivers to act on failures. Providers rarely publish it for you, and you want your own rua= address to see the reports.
Send yourself a test message and check the headers for dkim=pass and dmarc=pass — or run the free check below on your domain to see SPF, DKIM and DMARC state, and which sending services currently align, in one place.