DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is a security tool used by email providers to help confirm that an email really comes from the person or company it claims to be from and hasn’t been altered along the way.

Here’s a simple way to think about it:

Imagine you receive a sealed letter in the mail. The seal on the envelope is unique to the sender, so when you open the letter, you can be confident it came from them and wasn’t tampered with. DKIM is like that seal for email.

When a company or person sends an email using DKIM, they add a unique digital “signature” to it. Your email provider (like Gmail or Outlook) can check this signature to make sure:

  1. The email really came from the person or company it claims to come from (like a trusted business).
  2. The email hasn’t been changed since it was sent.

If everything checks out, the email is considered safe and is delivered to your inbox. If the signature doesn’t match, the email might be marked as suspicious or filtered out as spam, keeping your inbox safer from scams or fake messages.

Is a high rate of dkim fails a bad thing?

Yes, a high rate of DKIM fails is generally a bad thing. Here’s why:

When DKIM fails, it means that the “signature” on the email doesn’t match what the receiving server expected. This could happen if:

  1. The email was changed or tampered with along the way.
  2. The DKIM setup on the sender’s side isn’t working correctly.

If your emails often fail DKIM checks:

  • They may end up in spam folders instead of your recipients’ inboxes.
  • Your email reputation could be damaged, making it harder for you to reach your audience in the future.