No DMARC Record Found: What It Means & How to Fix It

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Fix the “No DMARC Error” fast. Learn why your domain shows this issue and how to add a valid DMARC record to protect your emails.

by Maitham Al Lawati

Last Updated:
Reading Time: 7 min
No DMARC Record Found: What It Means & How to Fix It
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Key Takeaways

  • “No DMARC Record Found” indicates that your domain lacks a published DMARC record, leaving it vulnerable to phishing and email spoofing.
  • DMARC is essential for email authentication, building on SPF and DKIM to prevent cyber threats like Business Email Compromise (BEC).
  • Fixing the error involves generating a DMARC record, selecting an enforcement policy (p=none, p=quarantine, or p=reject), and adding it to your DNS.
  • Proper implementation is crucial, as setting p=reject without monitoring can block legitimate emails and disrupt communication.
  • Ongoing monitoring with tools like PowerDMARC ensures email security, prevents future errors, and improves deliverability.
  • PowerDMARC simplifies deployment, offering 100% compliance, human-readable reports, and expert-guided policy enforcement.

When you see the message “no DMARC record found”, it means your domain has no published DMARC policy in DNS, leaving your emails unprotected and far easier for attackers to misuse. DMARC is an email authentication protocol that uses SPF and DKIM to verify which senders are authorized to send emails from your domain and how suspicious messages should be handled. Without it, inbox providers have no guidance on filtering fraudulent traffic that pretends to come from you.

This missing-record error signals a gap that can expose your domain to spoofing, open the door to phishing attempts carried out in your name, and cause inbox providers to distrust your email traffic. Understanding why this error appears and fixing it quickly helps restore control over your domain and strengthens the security of your outbound email.

What Does the “No DMARC Error” Mean?

The “No DMARC Error” simply means that your domain does not have a DMARC record published in DNS. When inbox providers look up your domain to verify an incoming email, they find no instructions on how to handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks.

Without a DMARC record, email validation is incomplete. Receiving servers cannot confirm which messages are legitimate and which may be spoofed. This leaves your domain open to impersonation and reduces the level of trust mailbox providers place in your email traffic.

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How to Fix “No DMARC Record Found” Error in 5 Steps

On encountering the “no DMARC record found” error, you can get your DMARC record created and published on your domain to troubleshoot the error easily. Given below are the steps for automatic and effortless DMARC deployment. 

Step 1: Detect the error

It’s important to confirm whether the “no DMARC record found” error actually exists on your domain. After signing up on the PowerDMARC portal, check your dashboard to review your registered domains. If the dashboard displays “No record found,” it confirms that your domain has no active DMARC record.

You can also verify this using our free DMARC checker tool, which instantly tells you whether a valid DMARC record is present or missing.

Step 2: Create a TXT record for DMARC

After creating your free PowerDMARC account, open your portal and use the DMARC record generator tool in the Toolbox to create your missing record. A TXT record is a simple text entry you add to your domain’s DNS settings, and it’s how DMARC instructions are published for receiving mail servers.

Step 3: Choose your DMARC policy

Determine your DMARC policy based on how confident you are in your email authentication setup. Start with a monitoring mode (p=none) to understand who is sending mail on your behalf. Once you confirm all legitimate senders pass SPF and DKIM, move to a stricter setting. If you’re comfortable reviewing suspicious mail in spam, choose p=quarantine. When everything consistently validates, you can safely switch to p=reject for full protection.

Step 4: Add the missing DMARC record to your DNS

Log in to your DNS management console and create a new TXT record for DMARC. The hostname for this record must be _dmarc, and you can configure a TTL of 1 hour. 

Step 5: Validate the published DMARC record 

After publishing your DMARC record, use a DMARC checker tool to validate it. Validating a DMARC record means confirming that the syntax is correct, the required tags are present, and the record can be read properly by receiving mail servers. This helps you avoid configuration errors and ensures your policy will function as intended.

Fixing “No DMARC Record Found” Error for Different Service Providers

Steps for adding your missing DMARC record are different for different mail service providers. Here are our help articles for a few main ones:

1. Deploying DMARC on Cloudflare

To deploy Cloudflare DMARC, follow these steps: 

  • Log in to your Cloudflare account and select your domain.
  • Go to DNS > Add Record.
  • Keep this tab open. In a new tab, sign up for free with PowerDMARC and use our DMARC record generator to create your DMARC record. Copy the generated syntax.

Important: Your DMARC record must include the v=DMARC1 (version) and p= (policy) tags. Choose a policy based on how you want to handle failing emails:

None: Do nothing

Quarantine: Send to spam

Reject: Block the email

  • Go back to Cloudflare and add the record with the following details:

Type: TXT

Name: @ (for root domain)

Content: [Paste your generated DMARC record]

TTL: Auto

Example:

v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:[email protected]; ruf=mailto:[email protected]; pct=100;

  • Click Save. Changes may take a while to propagate.

2. Deploying DMARC on GoDaddy

To deploy GoDaddy DMARC, follow these steps: 

  • Use PowerDMARC’s DMARC generator to create your DMARC record. If you’re new, start with p=none. Copy the generated syntax.
  • Log in to GoDaddy, select your domain, and go to DNS > DNS Records.

  • Click Add New Record and enter the following:

Type: TXT

Name: _dmarc

TTL: 1 hour

Value: [Paste the generated record]

  • Click Save. GoDaddy may take up to 48 hours to process DNS changes.
  • Use PowerDMARC’s DMARC lookup tool to verify your setup, check syntax, and detect issues.

3. Deploying DMARC on cPanel

To deploy cPanel DMARC record, follow these steps:

  • Log in to cPanel
  • Go to Domains > DNS Zone Editor and click Manage next to your domain.
  • Click Add Record and enter the following:

Type: TXT

Name/Host: _dmarc.yourdomain.com

TTL: 1 hour (or use the default)

TXT Value: Use PowerDMARC’s DMARC record generator to create and paste your DMARC record

  • Click Add Record to save changes.
Need help with a different DNS provider?

If your DNS provider isn’t listed above, don’t worry. You can explore our knowledge base for more information on setting up DMARC records with various DNS providers apart from the ones listed above.

While fixing a “no DMARC record found” issue, you may run into a few other authentication errors that quietly affect deliverability and DMARC alignment. Here are the most common ones and how to resolve them:
“Invalid DMARC Record”
This error appears when the DMARC record contains incorrect syntax or missing required tags.
Solution: Run the record through a DMARC checker, correct formatting issues, and republish the TXT record.

“No SPF Record Found”
This means your domain has no SPF record in DNS, preventing SPF authentication.
Solution: Create and publish an SPF TXT record listing all authorized sending sources, then verify it with an SPF checker.

“DKIM Not Aligned”
Your DKIM signature doesn’t match the domain in the “From” address, causing DMARC alignment to fail.
Solution: Update the DKIM selector or domain so the DKIM d= domain aligns with your From: domain.

Overcome DMARC Weaknesses with PowerDMARC

Need help staying compliant and monitoring reports? PowerDMARC offers full-stack DMARC management with real-time visibility.

PowerDMARC’s approach to fixing your “no DMARC found” error is different, and it goes beyond your basic protocol implementation. We address DMARC’s limitations and constraints to provide a well-rounded solution to our customers that helps them make the most of their deployment efforts. Here’s what we do: 

  • 100% DMARC Compliance: We align your domains against both SPF and DKIM to achieve 100% compliance in no time.
  • Human-Readable Reports: We convert your XML Aggregate Reports to a human-readable format that everyone can easily understand. 
  • Smooth Transition to Enforcement: We help you make a smooth transition to an enforced policy guided by real-life security experts so you can start protecting your domain against cyberattacks.

We help you implement DMARC the right way 

PowerDMARC’s DMARC analyzer helps you fix DMARC errors, achieve compliance, and move safely from monitoring to enforcement, without risking email delivery. Our all-in-one platform supports DMARC, SPF, DKIM, BIMI, MTA-STS, and TLS-RPT, with automatic updates and expert support to keep your domain secure and spoof-free.

Start your free DMARC trial today—no credit card needed!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How long does it take for a new DMARC record to propagate?

DMARC records usually propagate within a few minutes but can take up to 48 hours, depending on your DNS provider.

What happens if I don’t add a DMARC record?

Without a DMARC record, your domain is vulnerable to spoofing and phishing, and inbox providers have less trust in your emails, which can hurt deliverability.

Can I set up DMARC without SPF or DKIM?

You must configure at least one (SPF or DKIM) for DMARC to work, or the protocol has nothing to validate your email against.

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